


Biome Curse

by Stowaway_Macaw



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, I dont know how to tag, Magic, Occasional angst, Set in season 7, so uh, the hermit's pets are involved as well, the jungle hermits have a hard time, this is my first work so cut me some slack, very unique magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 62,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24745144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stowaway_Macaw/pseuds/Stowaway_Macaw
Summary: The universe was a strange place, and nobody knew that more than the hermits. Each one has been to many worlds and seen many things, though some of the craziest things they'd seen had happened once they became a hermit. The future was holding more in store for them, though not all of it would be enjoyable. The future had plans for the hermits and those plans would take all they had to overcome.Grian and Scar take the brunt of an unfortunate situation caused by a strange entity that calls itself "The Jungle" and need to overcome it, but Scar is trapped and the hermits seem to have completely lost any and all memory of the two hermits. With the mysterious magic having taken over the server and the identities of Grian and Scar being nearly lost to the hermits, they desperately try to evade their captor and regain their home.Cross-posted from Amino and Tumblr
Comments: 118
Kudos: 288





	1. Chapter 1

The universe was a strange place, and nobody knew that more than the hermits. Each one has been to many worlds and seen many things, though some of the craziest things they'd seen had happened once they became a hermit. The future was holding more in store for them, though not all of it would be enjoyable. The future had plans for the hermits and those plans would take all they had to overcome.

Scar had decided to take a break and relax from all of his building. He had made it his job to provide homes for all of the… unique creatures he had befriended, but building a village alone is taxing to say the least. He opted for the pile of shulker boxes rather than the jungle floor and flopped down on the small mess outside his snaily abode.

He knew that his home was an odd one, but that was precisely why he loved it. That, and there were quite a few hermits living in the jungle. Neighbors always made their time in the world more enjoyable.

Scar idly contemplated the reason why so many hermits had made the jungle their home. Truth be told he kind of knew the reason. The jungle had this… pull. Not physically, but Scar would get a weird feeling every time he tried to leave. His heart would beat slightly faster and his muscles tense up. A feeling of inexplicable guilt would settle in his stomach, the kind you get when you accidentally hurt your friend's feelings and don't know how to fix it. Scar simply assumed that the other jungle hermits had gotten a similar feeling when they found the jungle. After all, everyone who came would end up staying.

Well, almost everyone. Grian was a bit of an outlier. He did make his starter base in the jungle, but Scar had seen his mansion just outside of the dense foliage. He did like being neighbors with Grian, but he also knew how much Grian liked open spaces. The jungle was pretty, but not the best place for someone who took every opportunity to fly in open air.

As Scar lay on the shulker boxes, his eyes drifted closed. He had grown used to the humid jungle air and it lulled him to sleep, the lush world fading from view.

Only to consume his vision yet again. Scar felt a presence and it snapped him awake. He looked around and listened for the source of the presence, but saw nothing. What he did notice however, was his change in location. He was no longer on top of his shulker boxes, rather he was sitting on the jungle floor, his village nowhere to be seen.

Panic started to cloud his thoughts, but he quickly reeled himself back in. He couldn't be far from someone's base since he was still in the jungle, but before he could stand a voice echoed through his whole being. He could hear nothing but the rustling of leaves, but he knew there was a voice speaking to him. It was a voice he hadn't heard before but it was somehow familiar.

_Listen. Finally. There are more here. The wizard has stayed. The technician has stayed. The leader has stayed. The druid has stayed. The builder has stayed. The bird is leaving. He will not leave. The wizard will help the jungle. The wizard will stay. The wizard will make the bird stay._

Scar felt the voice, and as it rattled off titles and commands, he realized that the voice was talking about him. He was a wizard now after all, but he didn't like what the voice was telling him. Before he could protest, another strange feeling washed over him and he suddenly didn't feel like he was in his own body. It was uncomfortable, but only lasted a few seconds. By the end of that time, his vision had gone dark.

Scar snapped his eyes open for the second time, not knowing when they had closed, yet this time he was back on his shulker boxes. He remembered what the voice had said.

_He will not leave_

Scar quickly grabbed some rockets and launched himself to the sky without bothering to check his elytra. If his gut feeling was right, he had to warn the other hermits and get out of the jungle. He had only gotten to the edge of the lake when he felt his body slam into something hard. He plummeted into the shallow waters and resurfaced, gasping for air. What had he hit?

Inching forward, he extended his hand, ignoring how uncomfortable his robe was as it clung to his arm. His fingers brushed against a solid, invisible surface and the air around his fingers seemed to distort and ripple. He looked closer and realized there was a similar, less obvious effect extending high into the sky and far to Scar's left and right. He was trapped.

Frantically and not bothering to exit the lake, Scar took out his communicator and typed in the chat, hoping to get some help.

< Goodtimeswithscar > guys something bad is going on and I need you all to get out of the jungle. I'll tell you more later but you guys need to get out now  
< ZombieCleo > O.O  
< Iskall85 > what the heck?  
< Iskall85 > who the heck is that?  
< Xisumavoid > I'm not sure  
< Tango > I didn't even know you could type that  
< Tango > that's the language on the enchanting tables right?  
< Xisumavoid > it looks like it. The username is blocked out to…

"What?" Scar looked at the screen horrified. He couldn't talk with anyone. He was stuck there and nobody knew. He put the communicator away, ignoring the pings and trudging out of the lake, his robe uncomfortably clinging to him. How was he going to solve this?

Scar walked slower than he had in a while, wracking his brain for any semblance of an idea. He only stopped when he reached the crystal he had made in the center of his village. He looked up at it, but something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. A red parrot was perched there with an envelope in its beak. No sooner had Scar spotted the bird than it had flown off, dropping the envelope at his drenched feet.

Scar picked up the envelope not before shaking some water away from his hands. It was plain paper with no writing on the outside. He tore it open, and took out the thin letter inside.

"Every wizard needs a familiar. The wizard gets his now."

That was all that was written on it. He stared blankly at the writing before looking back inside the envelope. Enclosed at the very bottom was a pendant attached to a silver cord. The pendant was a glass orb with a single feather inside. The feather seemed to constantly be changing color depending on how the light hit it, shifting from one color to the next and each color had a striking saturation. It wasn't pale like certain opals that Scar had seen, rather it looked like someone had discovered how to mix every dye and not have them blend into black or brown, but instead stay separate in a constantly shifting marble pattern.

Before he could stop himself, Scar took the accessory and donned it. He barely thought as he did it, like his hands moved on their own. All at once, there was a gust of wind and an explosion of color. Scar shut his eyes tightly and covered his face while he waited for the onslaught of color and wind to stop assaulting his vision and trying to blow him off his feet.

Then as quickly as it had begun, the chaos ceased and Scar carefully opened his eyes, only to see a semi-transparent figure crouched on the ground. The figure looked up at him and when their eyes met, Scar's mind had completely froze. The violet eyes that stared into Scar's green ones were all too familiar, and he could tell that the violet eyes recognized him as well.


	2. Chapter 2

Grian had spent his day working on the mansion, and he was already starting to spend more time there than in his Hobbit hole in the jungle. Truth be told, something deep inside him was begging for him to stay in the jungle, but that was just it: he didn't want to be kept anywhere. Grian valued freedom above many other things. It wasn't that he hadn't felt the emotional tug the jungle had on him, it was that he hated feeling like he was obligated to stay somewhere. He wanted to make sure he chose where he was, and he could tell that the guilty feeling he got whenever he left the jungle was not his own. That was exactly why he was currently constructing his mansion in the mountains, close but still far from the tropical biome.

Grian set down his pickaxe after a huge session of digging out the space under his mansion and leaned forward to rest his forehead on a wall of cold stone. It wasn't comfortable, but his bed was back in the jungle at the moment and he could feel the emotional tug now more than ever. As far as Grian was concerned, no entity, creature, or other force could confine him. He was determined to stay in his mansion until the feeling died down again.

A loud skwak startled him out of his daze and he whirled around to see a red parrot staring directly at him. He furrowed a brow, wondering if one of his pesky birds had decided to leave its perch. He corrected his slouched posture and smirked at the bird, grabbing for some seeds and attempting to tame the intruder. At the same time, he kneeled down and used his other hand to stroke the scarlet feathers.

"Now what are you doing here? Pesky bir-" as soon as his fingers made contact with the soft plume, a wave of nausea hit him like an anvil and his entire body felt suddenly unstable. One hand held his weight by pressing down to the stone floor beneath him while the other went to his mouth as he desperately tried to simultaneously keep his lunch down and his head up. The seeds were scattered across the stone and the parrot, not at all phazed by Grian's sudden recoil, fluttered up and landed on his head. That seemed to make the condition worse as Grian collapsed to the floor, not even having the strength to hold his head or soften his impact.

And just like that, the world went dark. The only thing Grian could sense was a voice. A voice that was definitely familiar but unlike anything he had ever heard.

_Listen. Finally. There are more here. The wizard has stayed. The technician has stayed. The leader has stayed. The druid has stayed. The builder has stayed. The bird is leaving. He will not leave. The wizard will help the jungle. The bird belongs to the jungle. The wizard belongs to the jungle. The bird will be bound to the wizard._

Then, silence. It was strange. Grian had never felt anything quite like it. It wasn't like death, he was too aware of what was going on, and he could tell he had a body. It wasn't like sleep either, because despite his possession of a body, he could not feel his limbs or breath or heartbeat. He didn't feel dead, rather he felt as if he only had life, and that was all. Nothing else. Grian waited for something, anything to happen, but time had distorted and the seconds had felt like days.

Then all at once, sensation spread through his entire being, in a way unlike ever before. He still couldn't feel his breath or heartbeat, but he could at least feel his limbs and hear the sound of the wind again. He opened his eyes and they slowly focused on a patch of thick grass and stray cobblestone. He was back in the jungle. It was easy to tell by the humidity and the bright color of the grass. His legs were in a crouched position, but he couldn't feel any of the physical strain that normally came with crouching so low. His eyes travelled upwards and locked with familiar forest green eyes that held a surprised expression.

Scar. That's what he wanted to say, but for whatever reason, the name wouldn't form on his lips. Scar opened his mouth, gaping like he wanted to say something, but couldn't say it. Instead, the robe-clad hermit asked a question:

"How… did you do that?" It took Grian a moment to process what he had been asked.

"Do what? Last thing I remember, I passed out from something… I don't suppose you'd know anything about that?" Scar thought for a moment, obviously trying to work out in his head what was going on. Grian was honestly doing the same, but he was too thrown off by his lack of needing to breathe.

"You just… appeared here… and I can see through you, and you're wearing different clothes and-" Scar cut himself off, doing his best not to panic. Grian stood up and observed himself. Sure enough, his body allowed the jungle floor to be seen through his arm, and was covered in what looked like a tribal garb fashioned from hundreds of feathers in every color imaginable. A grand looking feathered mask hung from Grian's neck by a cord and the feathers trailing from the edges made it look almost like a headdress. The strange attire was complete with golden cuffs and colorful beads, making him look like some kind of mythical deity. Grian tried to take a breath and found that he could, but it somehow didn't feel natural like it should've been. It was meant to calm him down, but he ended up slightly more agitated.

"Listen, I honestly have no clue what is going on. But… I did hear… feel… whatever, a voice." Scar's eyes lit up at Grian's statement.

"Me too! I was going to warn everyone, but my communicator… " Scar held out the device, the conversation displayed clear as day on the screen.

"I can't leave either. There's some kind of barrier." Scar pointed across the lake and Grian turned and squinted, finally spotting the distortion after looking for a while.

"And uh, hey?" Scar was slightly put off by his strange inability to speak his friend's name, but Grian turned around anyway to face his friend.

"Yeah?"

"Turn around again. And stay facing away for a bit." Grian scrunched his face in confusion, but did so anyway. He stayed facing away until he realized he could feel his heartbeat and his lungs were working on their own again. He turned back around to look at Scar only for the functions to freeze once again.

"I couldn't see through you when you were turned around." Scar blurted out before Grian could say anything. He turned away again and he could feel his body working again. Glancing down at his hands, his violet eyes widened as he spotted solid flesh.

"But… why though…?" Grian was baffled by this and was having a hard time wrapping his head around the day's events.

"I got a letter and this pendant, see?" Grian turned to look at said objects, ignoring the stillness of his chest. Scar explained what had happened with the bird and Grian shared his own experience.

"So, in short, the jungle is somehow not only sentient, but has some weird mystical powers that trapped me here and made you… my familiar? I guess? And now we're stuck like this because the jungle got so lonely it was willing to curse us." Scar had calmed down considerably, much unlike Grian who would probably be hyperventilating if breathing was still a reflex.

"Y-yeah. I think that about covers it." There was a thick tension filled silence between the two. Grian spoke up first.

"Permission to swear?"

"Denied."

"This is going to be a freaking pain in the butt."


	3. Chapter 3

Cub looked at the message in the chat, with the long, blurred out name and the lines of enchanting runes. He was put off, and there wasn't much that could do that since he himself was somewhat of a force of chaos. Something made him more worried though.

Cub could have sworn that someone close to him had been saying something about feeling emotions that weren't theirs and other strange presences, but try as he might, Cub couldn't recall who that might have been. No faces, names, or voices came to mind. Deep within himself, he knew something was up and he knew he was forgetting something important, but the fog in his mind simply wouldn't let up. His gaze drifted into the distance and the hot noon sun was glaring down on him. He had grown used to the desert, but the bright crystalline shapes protruding from the ground were breaking the desert scenery. Again, in the back of his mind, something screamed at him that those gigantic crystals were because of someone, but Cub still couldn't place the name.

Sighing in discomfort, he turned away from the magical structure and lent his attention back to the chatroom. The messages have died down and Xisuma had said that he was looking into the strange message. Cub shoved the communicator back in his pocket and grabbed some rockets. He took a step forward, ready to take a trip to the jungle to look for some more melons to trade. But before he could, something in the back of his mind told him no. He wasn't sure what, but something in his gut told him that something was seriously wrong with that place. Cub wondered if it had something to do with what the person he couldn't recall had said.

Huffing, Cub decided against the trip and flew off to the cowmmercial district instead.

Mumbo, meanwhile, was hardly as calm. He had had a growing sense of anxiety ever since… since… for the life of him he couldn't remember, but he knew it had to do with the mysterious mansion in the mountains. He always felt the need to stay as close as he could to his base and he had somewhat honored that, but now ever since that strange message had shown up in chat, he felt like he couldn't leave. He felt like leaving would somehow be some kind of ultimate betrayal, but to whom he did not know. Even so, he stayed put.

Mumbo sat on one of the giant structures in his base and looked out at the mansion. As far as he knew, it had mysteriously started construction one day, but nobody knew who was building it or who it belonged to. As Mumbo thought this, something stirred in the pit of his stomach and his face scrunched up. He felt like he should know. He somehow felt that out of every hermit, he would have known who had constructed such a structure. But he didn't. And he felt horrible about it without knowing why. He felt just as horrible every time his gaze wandered to the mountainous horizon. And so he looked away.

Scar and Grian were the only two who knew what was going on, and it was obvious from the way the other hermits were talking. It was like the two never existed. While the situation was definitely concerning, hermits were resilient by nature. The two had already started walking the perimeter of the village to see just how far the barrier stretched. It was like that that they found out that while Scar was bound by the barrier, Grian was not. That being said, Grian was physically incapable of doing anything, including leaving the barrier, without Scar telling him directly to do it.

"I guess that's what they meant by you being my familiar, huh?" Scar said, half jokingly. Grian was less than amused. It went against everything he had worked for, so literally not having any freedom was not something he enjoyed at all. All he responded with was a huff.

"Hey now, we've got to be optimistic! It's important you know!" Scar was obviously trying to keep them both calm, and Grian would have responded sarcastically and made some defiant joke, but since what Scar said was technically a command, Grian could feel a smile creep up on his face. Before Scar could comment, Grian reached for the mask hanging off his neck and pulled it over his face and hair. The mask itself was designed to resemble what was probably the most colorful bird either of them had ever seen and made Grian look even more strange. The mask covered his whole face so Scar couldn't see his grin under the mask, just his mischievous, defiant, violet eyes. It also allowed Grian to physically touch things, and Scar had connected the dots by realizing that so long as nobody could see his face, Grian wouldn't be in his strange "spirit form".

"I'll feel however I want thanks." Grian said, his smile apparent in his voice. Scar sighed with what was thankfully a genuine chuckle and Grian's eyes now smiled for real at the wizard.

"Oh come on…" Scar's voice cut out, like he couldn't say what he wanted said.

"Argh! Seriously! Why can't we say each other's names!? I know what your name is, so why can't I say it!?" The two were definitely frustrated. Neither could say the other's name despite knowing it. However, it was low on the list of problems they had to solve. It was merely inconvenient, but still infuriating.

The pair joked around as they finished marking the border, both attempting to cheer the other up. When they reached the snail, a border had been drawn that marked the barrier which was mere meters from the edge of Scar's village. The pair turned to each other and Grian started with a new topic.

"Alright. We've got to find a way to communicate with the other hermits. You can't use your communicator and mine is straight up gone somehow. I can't do anything without you telling me to do it, which is bad, considering you can't exactly go all the places that I can. What do we do?" Scar thought for a moment and Grian did the same after his small recap. Scar was still trying to get his emotions under wraps and it made it hard to think, so he started to think out loud.

"So, we need you to talk with the hermits, but in a way that doesn't require any actions that are too complicated. Something that I could quickly tell you to do now that wouldn't cause any misunderstandings. The worst thing that could happen is that the hermits start seeing us as threats." Grian nodded along and asked Scar something he hadn't yet considered.

"The voice called you the wizard right? And since it made me some weird magic bird thing, maybe it gave you more powerful magic?" Grian sounded unsure, but the two were grasping at straws.

"Umm, maybe? How would we even test that?" Grian shrugged. Scar hummed and eyed Grian.

"Wait hold on, I'm not gonna be your test dummy am I?" Grian tried to back up, despite knowing he couldn't leave earshot without permission.

"Tell me… " Scar began.

"Tell me if either of us have any abilities that the jungle gave us." It was like a spell, Scar's words, because as soon as he had uttered them, Grian felt the voice again and its words could be heard through his whole being.

_See. The jungle had helped the bird. The bird needs to know that the jungle owns it. The wizard knows that the jungle owns it. The jungle has given the wizard crystals. The jungle has given the bird a different form. The jungle has gifted the bird with what it wanted most. The bird owes the jungle. The bird must stay with the wizard. The bird must stay with the jungle. The wizard can do the same. The wizard is like the jungle. The wizard will gift those with what they want most. The wizard and the jungle will be one._

And then the voice was silent. Grian hadn't realized he was wheezing and Scar could see the panic in Grian's uniquely colored eyes, which were the only things visible under the mask.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I won't do it again, please, just deep breaths. Deep breaths." Scar was doing his best to console the gasping familiar.

"Y-you…" Grian started, slowly catching his breath. Scar relaxed slightly at his voice.

"You can… grant wishes… " Scar's eyes widened.

"What?" Grian repeated what the voice had said to the best of his memory.

"But… what did the jungle give you then?" Scar asked Grian. Grian wasn't quite sure, but felt he knew what the jungle gave him. After calling him "the bird" so many times and after the costume change, he could guess. Whether or not the jungle had actually been right in saying it was his heart's desire was something that only Grian knew. He knew it to be wrong, but only because what his hear desired was something he already had. Putting the thoughts aside, Grian clamped his eyes shut and focused on his body and what the jungle had changed.

"Woah!" He could hear Scar's shout as well as the shuffling of his footsteps as he backed up. Grian opened his eyes.

"What changed?" Scar looked him up and down.

"You've… got wings…" Grian turned his neck and sure enough, two honest to goodness wings were resting slack on the jungle floor.

"I had a feeling that's what it would be… " Grian mumbled. Scar tilted his head.

"You most wanted wings?" He asked, confused.

"No. But the jungle thought I did. I already had what I wanted." Scar relaxed somewhat, slightly relieved that his friend wouldn't have such a shallow heart's desire, especially when they already had elytra.

Suddenly, Scar had an idea.

"Oh! What if we trade wishes in exchange for favors!" Grian looked at Scar with a mix of confusion and concern.

"How would that help us?"

"Neither of us can tell the hermits anything about our identities, so we'll look suspicious no matter what we do. The barrier makes my village impossible to enter or exit unless it's you. If we offer the hermits something they can't refuse and tell them to investigate the jungle for us in return, then we can gain their trust, all you have to do is be a messenger, they get their wishes granted, and we get information on what on earth happened to us!" Grian thought about Scar's proposal, and realized that it was probably their best shot. Who could refuse a chance to have their wish granted?

"I think that just might work… " Scar smiled.

"Perfect! We'll look into more details tomorrow, but I think it's about time we rested a bit." Grian agreed and the two cursed hermits made their way into the snail, anticipating the next day.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, both Grian and Scar were eager to get going, whether they were actually ready to or not. Both of them just wanted the mess to be over with, and their morning experience only reinforced their desire. Scar had woken up about twenty minutes before Grian and used the time to carefully plan out the command he would give his newfound familiar. He knew he had to be thorough since Grian physically couldn't disobey him. There was a lot that both of them still didn't know about the jungle and what either of them could do, nor did they know why the jungle was so fond of them, Scar in particular.

Either way, while Scar contemplated this, he looked over to Grian's sleeping form. The feathered mask had been pulled over his face for the whole night and he had slept on his side to avoid crushing the mask. Normally, he would have slept on his stomach or back, but he hasn't figured out how to get his wings to go away. Scar couldn't see Grian's face, nor could he see most of his hair since it was covered in a mass of brightly colored feathers. Once the twenty minutes had passed, Scar decided to wake Grian up himself. Carefully, trying not to step on the giant wing that was sprawled out over his friend and the floor, Scar made his way over to Grian and gently shook his shoulder.

"Hey. Hey, it's morning." Grian didn't so much as stir, but Scar continued to shake him.

"Hey," Scar tapped the mask since he couldn't poke his familiar's face, and that earned a reaction. As if it was an arm brushing his hand away, Grian's colorful wing rose to shoo off Scar's hand. In the clumsy motion, the wing pushed the mask off of Grian's face and Scar caught a glimpse of the skin underneath. But as soon as Scar had seen it, the entire form was gone. In a woosh of color and feathers, Grian's sleeping form was sucked into the glass pendant by a similar spectacle to what had originally accompanied Grian's arrival when Scar had put on the pendant that he still wore around his neck. No trace was left behind, save for a few stray feathers floating to the ground.

Scar panicked.

"Ooh, no no no no, what was that!? H-hey, come back- darnit I still can't say your name…" Despite the lack of names, the pendant still performed exactly what it had done twice now, and yet again, Grian appeared in front of Scar, slightly groggy this time and his mask off of his face.

"Wha-"

"You're back! I was scared that I did something wrong!" Scar looked at Grian, relieved.

"Did… did I go somewhere?" Scar recounted the events to Grian, and apparently all Grian had experienced was a good night's sleep.

"So, I guess the pendant is like your… I don't know what you'd call it… home?" Grian's face scrunched up at the implications, but he didn't disagree.

The chaotic morning served as a motivator for them to get moving and soon enough, the two met outside, Grian's mask having been donned as soon as he had gotten the chance. They walked to the edge of the lake and turned to face each other.

"Ready?" Scar asked, a look of determination on his face. Grian nodded curtly with a similar amount of determination in his eyes. Scar took a deep breath and relayed what he had repeated in his head during the twenty minutes before their "morning incident".

"Go fly over to the shopping district and wait on the rock in your barge for a hermit to spot you. It shouldn't take too long since you stand out. Keep your mask on if they look like they can be negotiated with, but take it off and bail if they try to attack you and look like they won't let you go. If you are able to talk with someone, ask them what they'd wish for if they could wish for anything in the world. Once they tell you, say that you can grant their wish if they're willing to help you. If they're interested, then tell them you'll grant their wish if they investigate the jungle's magical properties. If they agree, tell them it's a deal, and write the wish down to give to me once your task ends. Answer any questions they might have however you see fit. Only return to me if I need you, if the sun sets and you have a wish to give me, or if you are forced out of the shopping district." Scar gave Grian a look that asked "does that sound good?" And Grian nodded.

"Alright, go." And with that, Grian took to the skies in flight that felt a bit too natural and followed his mental map to the cowmmercial district. It didn't take long, since flying with wings was surprisingly fast and he swooped down to the barge that nobody knew was his and perched himself on the rock, waiting for a hermit to pass by. He waited and waited, listening carefully for the sound of rockets or footsteps or anything that would signify a presence. Random parrots had somehow flown all the way from the jungle and we're perched around him while he waited. They grew in number the longer he waited and sang little tunes and ate some seeds Grian had brought with him. Hours passed before anyone came, during which Grian wondered what Scar was up to all alone.

The first hermit that Grian saw was Bdubs, but the first hermit that saw him was Stress. She was still wearing her flower crown, and she had been walking by the barge to put up a poster. She spotted Grian from a fairly long distance and froze, obviously not sure what to do. Her mind was racing. Who was that? Were they a hermit? Were they dangerous? The two locked eyes and after many seconds of silent staring several meters apart, Stress started inching closer, her curiosity getting the better of her, as well as something in her gut telling her she could trust this very colorful person. She stepped close enough to see the purple in his eyes and the two kept staring for what seemed like forever. Finally, Stress spoke up.

"Who are you?" Grian, of course, was incapable of saying his or Scar's name, but for whatever reason, he hadn't anticipated this dilemma as much as he should've. Instead he said:

"I'm someone who can offer you your heart's desire." Stress was visibly confused by this.

"What? What do you mean?" She asked, gaining confidence.

"If you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be?" This question struck something in the pink-clad hermit, and she faltered. What would she wish for? She thought back to recent events and recalled the immense distress that she had seen several hermits in, especially lately. Mumbo lived close to her and she had seen how everything he did had an undertone of paranoia. She saw how Cub would look like he was constantly looking for something, or someone. She saw that Xisuma had been holed up in his admin room, trying to deal with the mysterious message that had appeared yesterday morning. She saw how the mayoral candidates seemed to loose their drive suddenly, and Bdubs kept looking at the empty spot on the popularity poll, brows furrowed and eyes unfocused.

She could tell everyone was on edge and she didn't know why. She didn't know what to do about it either. Yes, she was running for mayor, but that was a challenge by Mumbo. She hardly felt confident in her own leadership skills, much less her ability to relieve the tension that had occurred among the hermits so suddenly.

"I'd wish… I'd wish for me to know how to support the other hermits… " Grian was genuinely unsure if that was something he and Scar could even grant, but he couldn't exactly refuse her.

"I can help. I just need a small favor in return and I'll grant your wish." The words spilled out of his mouth, seemingly against his will. Meanwhile, Stress looked wary and more skeptical than ever. Everything the bird man said just kept getting more and more suspicious. Despite that, her gut still told her she could trust him. His eyes looked into hers, and for the briefest of moments, she saw a friend in them. Someone she knew well and would trust with her life. But it was merely brief and was gone before she could process the feeling those eyes gave her. Even so, it was enough to sway her judgement and humor the proposal.

"What kind of favor?" Grian sighed inwardly, genuinely surprised she was actually interested.

"Very simple: do some research on the magical properties of the jungle and bring me the information. Just as much info as you think is right. I'll gladly help you if you agree." Stress hesitated. Why would he need that? Truth be told, he looked magical enough already. Even so… if he could actually help her, the hermits might not constantly look like they're walking on eggshells. It was nothing but discomfort for all of the hermits for an entire day and she wanted to end it, for her and everyone else. If even their most optimistic hermits were in this slump, it would take a miracle to get everyone out of it. Besides, what could the feathery man do with such little information?

"... Fine. But if you end up betraying me, I'll get the rest of the hermits and chase you out." Grian was glad that Stress couldn't see his grimace.

"I wouldn't expect anything less."

"And one more thing." Grian lifted an eyebrow before remembering that Stress couldn't see it so he tilted his head to the side instead.

"Yes?" He asked. Stress eyed him suspiciously.

"What's your name?" Grian wanted so bad to shout his name, but the syllables simply wouldn't form. Instead, he repeated what he had said earlier.

"I'm someone who can offer you your heart's desire." Stress narrowed her eyes even more, this time in frustration as she realized she wouldn't get an answer out of him. She finally sighed.

"Alright. Fine, have it your way." She turned on her heel and rocketed away, forgetting about her original reason for going to the cowmmercial district. Grian simply sat there until he was sure she had left the district before he took out a book and scribbled down what she had said. The rest of the day was incredibly quiet and when the sun began to set on the horizon, Grian took to the skies again. As he flew back to the part of the jungle hidden by a magic barrier, he felt a bit of comfort remembering the incredibly brief look of familiarity in Stress's eyes, and also the upwards of thirty parrots that were flocking behind him during his flight. Despite the situation, he still liked the colorful birds.


	5. Chapter 5

Scar watched as Grian flew off, still finding the sight of his friend a bit strange in the new attire. He stood and waited until he couldn't see him anymore then turned around and took a deep breath.

"Okay! He's off to go do that, so now we wait for him to come back." There was a pause and it suddenly became obvious how alone Scar was. He realized just how ridiculous he must look, standing in the jungle in wizard robes and his underwear and talking to himself, waiting for his feathery friend to get back whohe wasn't even sure was human anymore.

"This is so uncomfortable… "

He somehow felt slightly embarrassed even though there was nobody there to witness him.

_The jungle can help_

Scar shivered as he felt the voice again.

"You can talk to us whenever? Wh-where have you been?" Scar asked the silence, silently scolding himself for letting his voice fail him.

_The jungle is only one entity. The jungle is big, but can only be in one place. The jungle wanted to observe the technician and the leader at work._

It was then that Scar noticed a red parrot in the corner of his eye, staring at him, unblinking. He chose to pretend not to notice it, but as soon as he saw it, he realized he could feel it's presence. It stood out from everything else and he made a mental note to remember what the presence felt like. If he and Grian wanted to solve anything, the jungle couldn't know.

_The jungle will help. The jungle cares for the wizard, but the jungle wants to know: where is the wizard's bird?_

Scar was confused for a split second, then realized it was referring to Grian. What would he tell it? He mentally crossed his fingers in hopes that his voice would not waver again.

"I sent him off to buy some things. I… need more food for Jellie and… and some emeralds for the misfit magical creatures." Scar hoped desperately that the jungle would buy his lie, and to his surprise, the voice felt pleased.

_The jungle is glad that my wizard is doing well. My wizard is using his bird very well. The jungle will help my wizard now._

Scar caught the voice's use of "my" and it took everything he had to not point it out. Instead, he was about to ask what it would help with, but he was interrupted by the red parrot flying in his face and screeching so loud that he couldn't decide if he should cover his face or his ears. As soon as the screeching stopped, Scar opened his eyes to look around, but was interrupted again by the voice.

_The jungle must leave for now. My wizard will see the jungle tomorrow. The jungle must observe the others. The jungle will return._

And with that, the bird fluttered away, leaving Scar to stand in mild confusion. He heard a meow from near his feet and looked down to see Jellie looking up at him. What he also saw was a pair of loose pants over his previously bare legs as well as a leather belt circling his waist. The belt was equipped with pouches and small bottles filled with tiny crystals that radiated a magical energy.

"I guess that's what it meant by help, huh, Jellie?" He knelt down and stroked the cat, and she let out an affectionate purr at his touch. He brought himself comfort from that cat's familiar and soft touch, and the tension in his body he hadn't realized he'd been retaining slowly released. He sank down to the jungle floor and sat in a more comfortable position, Jellie moving to his lap. The two sat there for some time, listening to the sounds of the jungle. Then, breaking the constant purr of Scar's partner was the distant sound of rockets. He snapped his gaze to the sky and observed as Iskall descended to the far edge of the shallow lake. He stood at the edge and scanned the lake, perhaps looking for something. He placed down a boat and rowed forward in Scar's direction. Scar stood up, hoping desperately that there was a slim chance that Iskall could see him.

Then, as the boat approached the barrier, Scar was ready for Iskall to either go through or hit the invisible wall. And sure enough, he went right through.

"Hey! Iskall! Over here!" Scar shouted, the glimmer of hope growing brighter. Only, as he shouted and waved more, the hope was snuffed out as his friend just kept on going, not even batting an eye.

"You… can't hear me." Scar's shoulders slumped and his hand fell limply by his side as Iskall reached the shore and picked up the boat out of the water. Iskall walked right by the dejected wizard, seemingly looking right through him for a moment before continuing to look around. Scar wasn't even sure if he could see the village. Jellie even meowed at him, but Iskall just kept walking forward, not looking at her. A shiver ran down Iskall's spine as he kept walking.

"This place is creepy; too quiet." He mumbled to himself, wondering why he couldn't hear any of the life that he would normally be able to hear throughout the whole jungle. He never even knew that two feet away, trailing behind him was Scar, the very person who held the answers to the question he didn't know he should be asking. Iskall walked slightly quicker, and as Scar sped up with him, he noticed there was a similar kind of distortion he saw at the barrier surrounding the oblivious man. All too soon, the group reached the opposite edge of the barrier, and as Iskall left the magical prison, he could immediately hear the sound return to the jungle and released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Scar meanwhile had stopped at the barrier and let his head fall and rest on the barrier, unable to follow him any more.

Scar suddenly heard Jellie's meow and looked over to her, only to realize she was outside the barrier. Iskall had also spotted the cat and stooped down to pet her, holding some fish in his hand.

"Hey there. Does this place freak you out too?" She purred and rubbed against his legs, ignoring the fish, but begging for scratches.

"Aww, you're so cute. What's your name, huh?" Iskall talked to the cat and spotted her collar, realizing she was tamed.

"I don't know who you belong to, but… I'll call you, Jellie. You look like a Jellie." Scar had pressed his hands to the barrier and was now looking intently at the two. Iskall himself didn't actually know why he thought the name was so fitting for the cat, but he couldn't imagine her being called anything else. Scar had decided that this would be a sign, a sign that there was in fact still hope for his friend's memory. He watched Iskall talk to his cat, taking the opportunity to listen to his friend's voice since he realized it would probably be a long time before he would hear it again.

"I honestly don't want to be here, Jellie. This place is really creepy. But still, Stress asked me to and she looked like she needed it…" Iskall furrowed his brows as he continued to stroke Jellie.

"I'd think that she'd want to know more about that weird mansion instead. It seriously looks like it should be haunted. But why the jungle…?" He huffed and stood up.

"Well whatever. I found this weird place. That should be enough to research on. Maybe I can ask X for some resources." Iskall waved to Jellie before rocketing off, still talking to himself but too far away for Scar to hear him. Jellie proceeded to cross the barrier and rub against Scar's legs as he watched Iskall disappear into the distance like he had watched Grian some time ago.

"Good work, Jellie. Alright, it looks like… he… made some progress. We've got some stuff to tell him when he gets back. I'll have to look over the research once we have some, but for now, we'll just keep an eye out for hermits." Scar thought for a moment before talking to Jellie again, this time picking her up.

"I need a name to call him. I don't want to call him bird since that's what the jungle calls him, and even with the mask, it's pretty obvious that it makes him uncomfortable. I don't really blame him either. I'd rather just be…" Scar sighed at his inability to pronounce his name.

"... me."


	6. Chapter 6

Xisuma flipped through pages and pages of logs, eyes strained at the poor lighting in his small filing room. Of all the places in his base to not be lit well, Xisuma was frustrated that it was this room. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it didn't matter. Something was obviously and unbelievably wrong. The rapid sound of paper flipping was cut through by a loud knock at the door. Xisuma jumped at the noise, but quickly regained his composure and called out to the door.

"Come in." The door opened and in the doorway was Iskall and Stress.

"Dude, you look terrible." Was the first thing that was said, straight from the mouth of Iskall.

"Gee, thanks. What'd you guys need?" Xisuma asked while setting the papers on a box that had already been opened, but hastily resealed.

"We wanted to ask you for some stuff… and talk about all of the recent uh… events." Stress phrased the sentence carefully, but she was obviously eager to get some information. The two visitors could see Xisuma's eyes grow serious, and Iskall turned to signal Stress to explain.

"See… I think something's going on with the jungle. In a bad way. Also, everyone's been so paranoid since that message showed up in chat. I think I might know a way to help, but I needed information. I asked Iskall to check out some spotty places in the jungle and he told me about one area by a lake." Xisuma stopped her to ask a question, hoping to find a lead of some sort.

"What were the coordinates?" Iskall handed him a small piece of paper with some numbers hastily scribbled on it.

"I wrote these down when I got to the edge of that lake. I boated across to get a better look, and while the place looked normal, I couldn't hear anything. It was mega weird. There were no mobs either, but I felt like I was being watched. When I walked far enough, I could hear everything again. Even Jel- erm… a cat showed up." Iskall's fumble didn't go unnoticed by Xisuma, but he elected to ignore it.

"But besides that, are you sure you're cool with helping us, dude? You seriously look like you're about to fall over." When Iskall brought the attention back to Xisuma, Stress nodded her head.

"Yeah, you look exhausted. How long have you been at this? Your helmet is hard to see through and even I can see how bloodshot your eyes are." Stress pointed out, knitting her eyebrows.

"I don't think it's been that long. I've only been at this since the message came in." Stress proceeded to move to Xisuma's side and place a hand on his back.

"Oh no, we've seen you do this before. It's almost been a full day since we saw that thing and the sun will be down in just a few hours. We're not going to have another delirious X on our hands. It's off to bed with you." Stress scolded as she shoved her friend towards the door.

"Wha- hey, it's really not that bad! Besides we need to solve this problem." Iskall cut Xisuma off before he could protest more.

"Dude, it's fine. We're all still here and okay. The world isn't gonna end because you got a good night's sleep."

"But what about Stress's-"

"Xisuma, love, it's fine! If it really bothers you that much then give us a thirty second run-down on what you've already found and we'll go from there!" They kept pushing their admin to his bedroom, and Xisuma sighed in defeat.

"Alright, fine. You're right. I haven't actually found much. It's more what I can't find that's bothering me. I've looked over documents and commands, but there are two things that are always missing from all of them. Two players to be exact. Player one has a longer name while player two's is much shorter. Their names are always missing and all of the characters are replaced with question marks. It's strange, I can't find their names anywhere, but they show up so much in the logs, like they were there from the beginning of the world, like the rest of us. All of their messages are in that language and it looks like we had even talked to them before…" by the time Xisuma had finished, his two friends had led him to his bed and he sat down on it while talking.

"That's so weird, but I think that makes sense." Stress looked at Iskall when he said that and raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah, haven't you noticed? Something's missing. Something big that we used to see all the time. It would make sense if it was two whole players that went missing." Xisuma processed Iskall's words and eventually nodded.

"I agree. But that still wouldn't explain why we don't remember them."

"Maybe it's magic?" Stress offered, only to get two looks from her friends that just screamed "really? You're going with that?"

"I'm serious! Magic stuff happens all the time among the hermits! Cub has his weird vex thing, I'm pretty sure Ren is possessed by something? He keeps talking about an emperor, but maybe that's not a good example. I've had magic and still do! We enchant our tools, so why wouldn't someone who knows that enchanting language enchant players?" The longer she talked, the more convinced her friends looked.

"That would explain some things, but that also makes this much harder." Xisuma said, looking down.

"Why?" Iskall questioned, somewhat discouraged by Xisuma's interjection.

"Magic doesn't have strict rules; it's not as clean cut as code or admin commands. If it really is magic then this could mean a game of loopholes. Finding the loopholes in spells is the key to exploiting and breaking enchantments." Stress nodded once Xisuma had finished.

"I can confirm that. I've had more experience with ice magic in the past and I can tell you right now that none of it was reliable in the slightest. Every time I thought I had figured out a rule, I would break it. It's still happening now with my flowers and nature magic, but I haven't had it for as long."

"So it's magic then. We need someone good at loopholes then." Iskall put his hand to his chin, thinking of who they could ask. Stress suddenly cringed. Iskall looked at her, noticing the sour look on her face.

"What's up? You think of someone?" Stress sighed and nodded.

"Yes, but only because he scammed the whole server." Xisuma perked up at her sentence.

"Ooh…" he cringed as well, but with significantly less malice.

"The lifetime subscription… "

"...Of free glass." She finished. The two then looked at each other and nodded before saying in unison:

"Etho."

Etho himself was a different kind of chaotic. A kind that was much more… intentional. Despite that, the trio agreed it would be smart to bring him into the mix while using Stress as a reference for magical tendencies. The man usually had good intentions anyway. Emphasis on "usually".

"Well now that we have that sorted out, you need to go to bed early." Iskall said, while motioning for Stress to follow him out of the room.

"Yes yes, alright. If you guys find anything else though, let me know." They both nodded and left the room where Xisuma promptly fell asleep much quicker than he had thought he would.

Stress and Iskall eventually parted ways, but Stress still had something on her mind. The bird man she had met earlier had a strange air about him. She could sense magic on him, and his body language suggested he was hardly used to the showy attire he sported. She also had this overwhelming feeling that she had seen him before, but her brain wouldn't let her remember. To her, that was enough proof that maybe he was one of the missing players, but she wasn't sure if she should tell the others since there were quite a few hermits who could turn a mess into a wildfire.

With a new resolve, Stress went off to work at her base, not before glancing over to the mysterious mansion looming in the distance and the shore of the shallow lake that looked too barren. She resolved to go to the same place the next day, hoping the bird man would be there then.

And a mere two hours later, said man was flying his way back to the shallow lake, the wish Stress had made clutched in his hand. Grian could feel himself cross the barrier and landed gracefully on the grass and fallen leaves of the jungle, careful not to stir up the surrounding foliage too much with his landing.

"You're back!" Scar ran up to Grian, Jellie in his arms.

"Sure am. And look what I've got." He waved the book in the air in small, quick motions.

"It's Stress's, right?" Grian fumbled at Scar's guess and sputtered out,

"Wh- y-yeah. How did…?" Scar laughed a genuine, good-natured laugh at his friend's surprise before explaining.

"Iskall came by here earlier. He walked through here and couldn't see me or the village, but he was able to see Jellie once he crossed the barrier on the other side. He started talking to her and mentioned that Stress told him to look around." While Scar talked, he made his way to the village snail and led Grian up the ladder, not before tucking Jellie in his robe.

"Also, the jungle gave me some pants." When they had reached the top, Grian looked to see that the jungle had, in fact, given the wizard some pants.

"I see that. Did you have a conversation with it?"

"Yeah. Remember that red parrot that we both saw before all this happened?" Grian nodded.

"I think that's the form it's taking. Which is good. It means it won't always be watching our every move. The bird doesn't blink though, so it's kinda cree-" Scar stopped mid-sentence.

"Hello? What are you-"

"Shh, quiet." Grian immediately stopped talking. The two stood in silence for a few minutes, after which Scar closed the door and dimmed the lanterns lighting the place.

"I think it's gone now, but just in case, I'm going to make it look like we've gone to bed." Scar explained.

"I can sense it's presence. I've been trying to teach myself how since it approached me, and I'm able to sense it while it's about six meters from our barrier. Not much, I know, but it's better than nothing." Silence.

"So, yeah. Can I see the wish?" Grian handed Scar the wish, still not saying anything.

"Thanks." Scar read the wish, and nodded.

"Okay, I think we'll be able to do this. I think it's actually pretty simple. It shouldn't require any magic, just a public event maybe." Silence.

"Sound good?" Grian nodded.

"Why are you suddenly so quiet?" Grian pointed to where his mouth was under the mask, made a zipping motion with his fingers, then pointed at Scar.

"What? What are you- oh! Oh I'm so sorry! You can talk now." Grian let out a groan.

"I'm really getting sick of this whole familiar thing." Grian said in a begrudging tone. Scar laughed nervously and looked away.

"It's good that you can sense where that thing is though. And yeah, I think you're right about the event thing. The hermits aren't very hard to cheer up, excluding a few."

"Yeah. You don't mind doing what you did today, tomorrow, right?"

"Nope. I've gotta check up on Stress anyway."

"Awesome. Well we should probably get to bed now." Grian nodded at Scar's suggestion and plopped down on his designated bed.

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep though. I've been doing nothing all day except wait." Grian complained, staring down at his pillow.

"You said being in the pendant was like a good night's sleep, right? Why not just do that?" Grian thought for a moment, not sure if he should take the offer.

"I mean, I guess? It's worth a shot. I don't know if I can do it on my own though, so you should just tell me to do it." Scar agreed.

"Alright. I guess I just…" he hesitated.

"Go back to the pendant?" The command sounded more like a question, but it was still a command. Yet, nothing happened.

"Umm, maybe you weren't commanding enough?" Grian suggested. Scar thought back to when the phenomenon had happened previously. What was different? Suddenly, Scar perked up.

"Oh! I know! Take off your mask." Grian's hand slid the mask off of his face seemingly on its own and the room was filled with a burst of color as soon as Scar could see Grian's face. And just like that, he was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess I'll… wait until morning?" He directed the question at Jellie, who was curled up where Grian would have slept. He took her comfortable purr as agreement and settled into his own bed.

"There goes day two." Scar mumbled to himself as he drifted off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Scar woke up to the sound of Jellie batting at the glass bottles attached to his belt that he had hung off a hook on his desk. He awoke easily since he wasn't as active the day previous and lifted the belt away from Jellie, not that she stopped swatting at the colorful crystals. As Scar put the belt back on his waist and started reaching for his cloak, he realized that Grian wasn't in the room. For about five seconds, Scar panicked, thinking that maybe that the only person who still remembered him had either left or been taken against his will. Then he remembered the pendant. Breathing a sigh of relief, Scar held the pendant so he could see it but the cord remained around his neck.

He was about to call out when he suddenly felt a presence nearby. He let the pendant fall and opened the door to the snail, hoping to face the strange entity that had forced a curse on him. He couldn't pinpoint the exact location of the presence until it spoke.

_My wizard is awake. My wizard looks well rested._

Scar nodded slightly and an eerie silence followed and Scar had finally spotted the bird eyeing him and chose to pretend like he couldn't see it again.

_The bird is missing again. Did my wizard send him away again? The jungle thinks my wizard should keep a tighter leash on his bird._

Scar was thankful for the question, despite sounding slightly like an interrogation. It told him that the jungle couldn't know whether or not Grian was inside the pendant.

"No, he's inside the pendant." The voice perked up immediately as soon as the words left Scar's mouth.

_Fantastic. My wizard knows what is best for the bird. The bird should know that it is most free under the jungle's care. The jungle sees that my wizard needs no assistance. The jungle will now focus elsewhere._

And with that, Scar heard the flapping of wings and the blur of red disappeared from his view and eventually, so did the presence. Scar heaved a sigh of relief and held up the pendant again.

"You can come out now!" He called to the glass encased feather. Nothing happened.

"Hello?" Still nothing. Scar was getting increasingly nervous and desperately wanted to call out Grian's name, especially after getting such a positive reaction from the jungle when he told it that Grian was in the pendant.

"Hey, come out already!" Finally he was surrounded by the familiar whirlwind of color and Grian finally appeared in the middle. He looked dazed and held a faraway gaze that stared right through Scar and was barely responsive. The blank expression was worse looking since Grian's mask was on top of his head rather than over his face. To Scar, he looked pale, but it was hard to tell since he was still semi-transparent.

"Uh, are you okay?" Scar asked, anxiety rising in his throat for the third time that morning. Grian's head dipped slightly in what was probably a weak imitation of a nod.

"Noooo, oh no. You're obviously not okay! Hey, come back to me!" Scar had no idea that the affect would be this bad and guilt swelled up inside him. What had he done? He tried to grab Grian's shoulders, and remembered that his mask was still off when his fingers passed right through the arms of his friend.

"Put… put on your mask." Scar's voice failed him as the dread and guilt continued to grow. What if Grian was stuck like this? What if he had permanently cost himself his only accomplice in this wreck of a situation? What if he had lost his friend forever? All these questions and more wreaked havoc in Scar's mind as Grian's hand moved to pull down his mask. Scar stared intently at his friend's blank eyes until his mask was all the way down and his form solidified. The vibrant purple eyes behind the mask were the only thing visible and suddenly shot wide open. A desperate and ragged gasp filled his lungs and Grian nearly collapsed. Scar moved to support his heaving friend. After a handful of seconds, Grian spoke up.

"Nev… never… never again…" Scar's worries were shoved aside by Grian's words, but he still felt the guilt.

"We're going to… keep this mask on… unless it's absolutely necessary… Also… " Grian was finally able to stand up straight and looked Scar directly in the eye.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for this. There was literally no way you could have known." Scar was taken aback by the harshly encouraging words.

"How did you know…?"

"It's so like you to blame yourself for something like that. Seriously dude, I'm fine now so all we have to do is keep my mask on. Easy." While Grian's words did banish some of the guilt, some still lingered since he could still hear the weakness in Grian's voice. Scar decided that would be good enough for now though.

"If anyone is at fault, it's that darn bird." Grian mumbled to nobody in particular. Scar chuckled slightly.

"Not calling it a pesky bird?" Scar teased. Grian huffed in playful frustration, but Scar could tell it had some genuine disgust to it.

"Yeah right. Pesky birds are pesky, not downright life-destroyers." Scar snorted at the comment and he could see the smirk on Grian's eyes. Then the two fell silent, an unasked and unanswered question hanging in the air. Scar vouched to break the silence, knowing that it would be better if the two discussed the issue now rather than later.

"So, what was it like?" Scar asked very hesitantly. Grian's gaze averted down to his bare feet, and he remembered all too well what it was like.

"Not pleasant. It's like not having a body, but still being conscious. You don't really feel anything, but at the same time you can feel a lot. Like dreaming but worse. It messes with your mind and your memories. You lose yourself in a space like that. Time doesn't matter, emotions don't matter, it's so... backwards. That and… I..." Grian's voice faded out into a mumble that Scar couldn't hear, and his face was now completely facing downward so Scar couldn't even see his eyes. His mask was covering both his expression and his voice which made it even harder to discern what he had said.

"What?"

"...name" was all that Scar could make out from the marginally louder mumbling.

"I really can't hear you."

"I forgot my name." Scar could finally see how tense Grian was and his voice cracked at the statement. Scar couldn't see the tears, but he knew they were there. Grian had forgotten his name. Neither of them had heard or said their name in two days, but after being practically forced into being something that wasn't who they were, it was all they had to hold onto from their normal life. Scar knew what it was, but he still couldn't say it. He felt a pang in his heart and moved to embrace his friend.

"We're going to solve this. I know it." Scar spoke with quiet confidence. Admittedly the confidence was completely staged, but "fake it 'til you make it" was a useful philosophy in times like these. It took some time, but the two had eventually composed themselves.

"You ready to go back?"

"Sure am."

"Alright then. Go ahead and follow yesterday's plan and try to make some progress with Stress, but this time, avoid taking off the mask as much as possible." And with that, Grian nodded and took off in the direction of the cowmmercial district. He did his best to bury the morning's events in the back of his mind, but doing so proved to be quite difficult. When he arrived at the barge, Stress was already there waiting, but this time, someone was with her. As Grian got closer, he could hear their conversation and realized that the other hermit was Xisuma.

"-tell me sooner!?" The admin seemed angry.

"Look, I had to be cautious! I wasn't sure if one of the hermits would try to hurt him!" Stressed yelled back, obviously feeling, well, stressed.

"This is crucial! If he had been someone dangerous, what would you have done?"

"Please trust me when I say that you'll understand why I knew he wasn't. As soon as he shows up, you'll see!" Grian had landed already and was standing quietly to the side, but figured that then was as good of a time as any to speak up. He cleared his throat and the two squabbling hermits whirled around to face him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" He asked, trying his best to look as reasonable as he could in spite of his attire. Xisuma stared at him in shock, but not at the colorful clothing. Rather, he looked into his eyes and saw and felt exactly what Stress had felt when she first encountered him; the familiarity, the trustworthiness, and even a tiny hint of nostalgia.

"I… see what you mean…" the three stood there for a bit, until Grian broke the silence.

"So… did she tell you about her wish?"

"Yeah… but she didn't say what it was. She said she had made a deal with you…" Grian nodded and explained some more.

"Yeah. All I ask for in return is information on the magic in the jungle." At his words, Xisuma planned his next move carefully.

"Why do you want that information?" He asked gently, and noticed that the eyes behind the mask drifted downwards.

"Something very… unfortunate has been done to my friend and I. We're doing what we can to reverse it." After hearing this, Xisuma was positive. He was so sure after hearing that there was another person like this one, that these people were the answers to the problems spanning the whole community.

"What's your name?" Xisuma saw the man visibly wince, as though the question had physically hurt him.

"I… genuinely wish I could tell you. All I can tell you is that I have the-"

"The ability to grant our heart's desire, yes I've heard the line." Stress was somewhat dismissive about how he dodged the question, but Xisuma learned why with her next sentence.

"If you want a name so badly, then give one to yourself! It might not be what name you were given, but I think a name chosen by you or your mysterious friend will be more personal than any other. That's why nicknames are so popular!" Stress surprised herself with her outburst, as well as the two standing in front of her. Grian himself wasn't sure how to process it, but he wasn't given much time before Xisuma spoke up again.

"Well, we need to call you something. What about bird?"

"I will be content with literally anything but that."

"Alright, strong no on that one." Xisuma thought some more after the speedy rejection of his first idea. Stress suddenly chuckled and smiled slightly.

"Why not play off that line you keep repeating. "Heart's desire", right?" When she suggested it, Grian perked up.

"Oh that works out. See, our situation is pretty complicated. There's this voice that keeps commanding us to do things and it's pretty intent on me just being something that belongs to my friend. It calls me bird, so I really don't want you guys to call me that. But if you call my friend "Heart" and if I'm "Desire", then I'm literally "Heart's desire"! As much as I hate to be considered a belonging, the nickname should make the voice happy if it ever finds out about it. I'm just happy that it's something you guys suggested instead of that… thing." Grian explained in the best way he could, and the three decided to stick with the silly titles either until the issue was fixed, or a different nickname caught on.

"Also, before we tell you all that we've found, we recruited some extra help." Xisuma said, changing the subject. Grian tilted his head.

"Who?"

"A friend of ours named Etho. He's… got a way with loopholes. I told him to meet us here, so he should be here in a little bit. He's going to help us with the whole magic spell situation. I thought I'd introduce you two since I can't get much research done about the jungle, but I ran into X here and ended up spilling our deal." Stress said, looking slightly sheepish. Grian thought for a moment.

"Etho, huh?"

"Did I hear my name?" The voice came from very close to the group and all three hermits jumped and cried out at the sudden appearance. Lo and behold, standing there was the familiar masked face of Etho.

"You're early!" Stress cried, a hand on her chest as she slowed her rapid breathing. Etho smiled with his eyes, innocently.

"Yeah, it sounded important so I got here early. Don't worry, you don't have to explain much; I've been listening for a while." His face returned to neutral.

"I'll help. Where do we start?"


	8. Chapter 8

"We need to first find out what enchantment was actually used. If we don't find that out, then we won't be able to find any loopholes." Xisuma started. The four had begun discussing how to proceed, but obviously, it was difficult to know how they were actually supposed to obtain any helpful information.

"Wouldn't that be easiest for you, X? You've got all your admin powers." Stress offered. Xisuma shook his head.

"No, not really. I mean yes, I should be able to find it, but I can't read the language it's in. Even in the logs, enchantments are still written in that language. So unless someone can actually read it, then I don't think that'll get us anywhere."

"Actually…" Grian spoke up.

"My friend is a wizard and knows a bunch of magic-y stuff. He might be able to help." Etho perked up at the statement.

"Oh yeah, it was Heart that sent the message in chat, right? That was in the weird language. Maybe he can decipher the logs." Grian was still unused to hearing Scar's new nickname, but he figured it was better than nothing. After spending all that time in the pendant, names had started to fail him and the name Scar was becoming harder and harder to recall since he wasn't able to hear it since the whole ordeal started.

"I'll bring it up with him." Grian said, ignoring the brief stares he got from the hermits, particularly Xisuma and Etho who hadn't seen him until that day. He didn't blame them, his outfit was definitely a spectacle.

"Alright. Next we need the actual logs, which are in my admin room. Shall we head over now?" Xisuma prompted, in which all the hermits nodded in agreement. One by one, they took to the skies, only for Etho to notice that their mysterious "new" friend dubbed Desire wasn't following them, and instead stayed rooted to the ground, seemingly stuck in one spot.

"Hey guys, Desire isn't following us." He spoke up. Stress and Xisuma turned their heads and spotted the colorful figure on the ground. They all turned back and landed in front of Grian.

"You coming?" Stress asked. When she asked the question, she could see the eyes behind the mask drift down in mild embarrassment.

"Well, see the thing is… part of the reason I couldn't do much myself is because I can't actually do anything unless… Heart… tells me to. He never mentioned being able to leave the district unless it was time to go report back…" Grian looked somewhat sheepish, but he was mostly troubled at his own incapability.

"What exactly did he tell you?" Etho asked, leaning out from behind Stress to look Grian in the eyes.

"Umm, well I was told to stay in the shopping district and offer to grant any passing hermits their heart's desire. He said to only return if I really needed to or if I had recorded a wish by sundown. He also gave me new instructions today in addition to yesterday's. Basically I was supposed to avoid taking off my mask as best I could and help make progress on Stress's wish…" Etho spoke up as soon as he reached the end of the explanation, but instead of talking to Grian, he addressed Stress.

"What was your wish?" Stress was slightly caught off guard, but answered anyway.

"Uhh, for the hermits to not be in such a slump. Since everyone's been paranoid and all…"

"Well if he goes with us, then that helps with your wish, right? So long as we solve this problem, then I'm pretty sure the hermits won't be as on-edge as they are now. I think that could be considered making progress on Stress's wish." Etho spoke with some optimism in his voice and could see the smile in Grian's eyes as he realized that this was true.

"Yeah… yeah, you're right!" Grian suddenly spread his wings and took off into the sky, beckoning the group with newfound energy.

"Let's hurry though, I know X's base is in the jungle and I don't want to get caught." The three other hermits complied and soon enough, they made the short flight to the jungle, just as the sun had reached its peak.

The group made it to the jungle in record time, and Xisuma guided them as discreetly as he could, since Grian had warned them that they might be under surveillance so long as they were in or near the biome. Soon enough, they had made it to the admin room.

The room itself was actually quite small, but most of the space was taken up by box after box of logs, files, and commands. Xisuma quickly scanned the labels and hoisted up one, two, then three of the boxes before handing them off to Stress, Grian, and Etho respectively.

"I think we should take these to a better spot to study. I'm honestly starting to regret making my base here." Xisuma mumbled the last part while taking up one more box packed to the brim with paper and looking around, concern evident through his visor.

"I mean, as long as we get in and out quickly, we should be fine. Besides, I've got some ender pearls if we need them." Ethos offered, using part of his side and his leg to support the heavy box and using the now free hand to demonstrate that he did, indeed, bring about a stack and a half of ender pearls. Xisuma already had some, but three were given from Etho to Stress and Grian who didn't use them as much and therefore didn't have many on hand. Grian especially since his entire inventory had been wiped somehow by the entity. As the hermits flew off, they realized just how heavy those boxes of paper were.

"I'm… so glad… I'm a builder…" Grian huffed as his wings struggled under the added weight, while his arms were hardly as strained. Normally, they would store heavy objects in their inventory, but it was due to some rules Xisuma had established during the world's creation that things that were normally admin exclusive couldn't be placed in an inventory, nor taken through portals. It was supposed to be for security reasons so that some random intruder couldn't just walk off with them, but the system proved to work a bit too well.

"You don't look... like a builder…" Etho quipped. It was true. While most hermits had visible muscle from lifting, mining, fighting, etc., Grian hadn't actually followed the trend. His arms were very skinny and he was smaller than average. That being said, he was definitely one of the stronger ones on the server in terms of body strength from lifting building materials.

"I promise… before this whole mess… I made some pretty neat stuff."

"Like what?" Stress inquired, genuinely curious. By now, the hermits were approaching the border of the jungle, coincidentally right by the giant mansion.

"Like that." Grian said, using his head to motion to the imposing structure.

"You made that? No offense, but since it was just kinda… there… most of us thought it was… haunted or something…" Xisuma huffed as he adjusted his grip on the box.

"Yup. But… I did get some… help. From that… friend…" Grian's words struggled out, and he was starting to realize the toll flying had on his body. Using elytra was one thing, but using actual wings took way more work instead of way more rockets. Stress noticed this and spoke up.

"We're… almost to a good spot I think…" the hermits were now at the edge of the mesa and landed before letting their boxes thump to the ground.

"I… am so gonna feel that tomorrow…" Grian grumbled as he grabbed a wing to help stretch it out for a few seconds before moving to the other one.

"Well we've got the logs, so we shouldn't have to do that again for a while, if ever." Xisuma said, somehow already recovered. The hermits rested some before taking up their respective boxes again and making their way to what they believed to be the safest spot for them. It was far enough away from any jungle and wasn't where a lot of hermits congregated like the cowmmercial district. They had decided to construct a very temporary, yet hidden bunker underneath the sands behind Cub's pyramid and covered by a birch trapdoor. It was even smaller than the admin room, and that was saying something. But given the urgency, it would have to do. The four sat and sifted through papers for many hours, looking for any enchanting that looked out of place from the normal silk-touch pickaxe or protection IV armor.

They hadn't found much of anything important when Grian suddenly stood up and without so much as an explanation, exited and soared away from the impromptu desert bunker, leaving behind the papers he was holding. The three left there watched him go, confused, until Etho spoke up.

"The sun is setting." The hermits stood still, only hearing the sound of their own breathing and looking out to the citrus-painted horizon. They had been looking at those logs for hours and their eyes were strained. Stress suddenly understood why their admin seemed to always lose track of time when he was doing work like this.

"Maybe he's got the right idea. Or… at least Heart does, giving the command to be back by sundown. We should get some rest." Stress said quietly. Etho and Xisuma nod in distant agreement, but the anxiety they feel as they return to their bases nestled in the jungle grows with every hour.

However, what they don't know nor realize is that there were two sets of eyes observing the group disperse, carefully from afar. One was devoid of emotion while the other wore a look of fierce determination laced with a heavy amount of somewhat hostile suspicion. Both observers retreated into the dusk, each with plans to confront someone about what they had witnessed.


	9. Chapter 9

Across the world, as the sun wasn’t quite emerging from the horizon, there were two figures flying out in the early hours of the morning. Both had seen the group of hermits as they emerged from the makeshift bunker in the desert, and both were enormously concerned. Both had gone back to where they lived after spotting the bunker, but only one slept. The one that had slept rose in the early morning, at least an hour before the sun rose and got ready.

He had donned his “normal” attire. Truthfully, he had only just started wearing it, but the pharaoh's garb he wore had grown on him for being surprisingly comfortable. However, as he flew to confront the person he knew he had to confront, he realized that maybe it wasn’t the right attire for a potentially serious conversation.

Cub sighed. He was at least grateful that the outfit was tight enough so that it didn’t fly up while he used his elytra. Besides, he had lost his modern clothes somehow, but resolved to have someone tailor him some new ones before they all moved on to the next world. As for who… Cub wasn’t sure. It irked him. He was absolutely sure that he had two specific people in mind who knew him well and who could procure quality clothing. In the past three days, he had constantly felt like something was disturbingly wrong.

Lost in his thoughts, he had finally reached the place he was headed for: Xisuma’s base. The base itself was easy to pick out, but since Cub had come through the portal, he didn’t actually need to spot it among the tall trees and long vines. Cub made his way around the base, knowing that it would still be some time before his friend would be awake. He gave himself a small tour of all of the improvements that Xisuma had made to his base, admiring the industrial-looking structures as they towered above him.

He paid mind to not stray too far from the base, partially because he wanted to catch the admin as soon as possible, but also because there were fewer trees at the base. Cub was very much used to the dry air of the desert and was already put off by the humidity. The clearing of trees allowed more air flow which was better than nothing, but it was still too humid for Cub’s taste. He wanted to get to Xisuma as soon as possible so he could get out as soon as possible. It wasn’t just the humidity, but there was a lingering sense of hostility tha Cub was very receptive to. It made him shiver despite not being cold.

Eventually, the sun rose and Cub sprinted up to his armor-clad friend and yelled to get his attention.

“Xisuma!” Said hermit quickly turned to look at Cub, originally offering a tired smile, but then he saw the seriousness and slight paranoia in Cub’s eyes.

“Yes? What is it?”

“I need to talk to you. It’s important. But, do you mind if we go somewhere else?” Cub asked. Xisuma nodded. He was actually glad that Cub had asked to do so. It meant that they could speak freely and without the risk of that thing Desire had mentioned. Both of the hermits made their way through the portal and walked for a ways before Cub stopped them at a random portal that neither of them cared to acknowledge.

“I want to ask you something, and I really want you to be honest.” Cub spoke in an even tone. Xisuma nodded without saying anything. Cub didn’t even have to collect himself or pause before continuing.

“What were you doing last night? I saw that bunker. I didn’t go snooping because I respect your privacy, but I also saw a person I haven’t seen before. Who was that? I feel like, as a hermit, I have a right to know.” Cub spoke with such a collected voice that it sounded more like an interrogation than a talk between friends. Xisuma was used to it though, so the intimidation didn’t phase him as it would someone who wasn’t as close with Cub.

“I’ll tell you, but I need you to promise that you won’t make any drastic decisions. This is a big deal and if it goes wrong, then the whole server could be in jeopardy.”

“Of course.” And with that promise, Xisuma launched into an explanation of the past three days as well as the mysterious two missing players dubbed Heart and Desire. Needless to say, Xisuma was talking for quite a while, and the longer he did so, the more concerned Cub got. When they had finally reached the end of the briefing, Cub’s mind was already buzzing with realizations and questions, as well as ideas on how he could help.

“I feel like after all that, this won’t sound as weird as it would have otherwise, but I seriously feel like I need to meet these missing hermits. You said they can’t say their names, right? And if we knew them, then that could mean we were close to them. I can’t shake the feeling that I knew one of them well. Like, really well. I can’t help but feel worried.” Cub was obviously distressed which was already a strange sight. The worry was evident on his normally stellar poker-face, and Xisuma couldn’t help but agree that Cub was probably closer to either Heart or Desire than many others.

“Try to stay away from the jungle for now,” Xisuma began.

“Stress, Iskall, and Etho are already avoiding it, but we’re all still sleeping in our bases so that we’re not suspicious.”

“Maybe we should bring Mumbo into this. I haven’t seen him in a while and I think he’s just been at his base the whole time.” Cub offered, his face growing solemn with his rising feeling of determination. Xisuma nodded.

“Yes, I think that’s a good idea. Would you mind getting him and bringing him to the little room behind your pyramids?”

“Roger. I’ll do it quickly, and I hope you’ll bring Desire to meet me as well.” With that, the two hermits flew off, one to the shopping district to meet with the jungle hermits and the other to the jungle itself to retrieve Mumbo who not many had seen in the past couple of days.

Many hours previous, the sun was setting and Grian had left his small team of suspicious hermits without saying a word, as his body wouldn’t allow him to wait those few precious seconds to say goodbye. Three days had gone by without him being able to disobey Scar. He hated it. It wasn’t that Scar made decisions he didn’t agree with, but Grian valued his freedom above all else. He does a lot to distinguish himself from the group and make his presence known, always by acting of his own accord, his own plans, his own motivations. He just wanted this to be over.

He swooped down, immediately spotting Scar who was sitting on the ground with several of his magic crystals surrounding him.

“Hey, Heart?” Grian had done his best to refer to Scar as Heart every time he thought about or spoke of him, mostly so that he had something to call him, but it hadn’t occurred to him that Scar hadn’t actually heard about his new title. That being said, Scar looked up at Grian, confused.

“What did you call me?”

“Oh, right, uh, so basically the hermits I met wanted to call us something, but given our… situation, and to make a long story short, they’re calling you Heart and calling me Desire.” There was a pause.

“Yeah, I’m gonna need the whole story.” Grian laughed nervously and sat near Scar, explaining all of his encounters with Xisuma, Stress, and Etho. He included the logs and the hermits’ realization that something was definitely up.

“Okay, that makes a lot more sense.” Scar said after Grian had finished.

“Alright, now you get to tell me what you’ve been up to. Grain said to Scar as he leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

“I’ve been seeing if I could understand this whole wizard thing better. I can sense magic and other people’s presences, but I haven’t been able to do much else… I think, even though I really wish it wasn’t like this, that I need the jungle’s help if I actually want to do anything like it’s done to us.” Scar looked at the ground, obviously disappointed.

“Hey, don’t worry about it! I’m sure we’ll be able to do what we need to without help from that thing. You’ve been doing great! I mean, you were the one who was able to come up with the plan to get help!” Grian exclaimed, doing his best to cheer up the sullen wizard. Scar smiled up at Grian, thankful for the effort. He suddenly perked up and Scar’s green eyes lit up with excitement.

“Also! Guess what!?” He leaned forward look Grian straight in the eyes from his position on the floor.

“Uh, what?” Grian was thrown off by the sudden change in demeanor but was still glad that Scar had found something that made him happy.

“Jellie!” Scar called out. The fluffy cat trotted towards him, purring like mad. Scar picked her up and held her close.

“I can understand cats!”

“Wait, really!?” Grian was stunned, but still very much happy for his friend. He knew how much Scar loved cats and was glad he could understand them.

“I’m glad at least something good came from this.” Grian chuckled, a genuine smile forming on his face that Scar could not see.

“And you know what’s even better?” Scar asked, stroking his purring pet.

“What?” Grian cocked his head to the side.

“She remembers our names!” Grian’s eyes went wide.

“So… our pets still remember us? And our names? Our lives? All that?” Grian had more hope planted in his heart by that. Scar nodded.

“I think so, but I’ve really only talked to Jellie about it.” Before Grian could respond, the pair heard an orchestra of hostile mobs echoing through the jungle. The sun had been under the horizon for some time at that point.

“Umm, maybe we should sleep.” Grian offered and Scar agreed. The two settled into bed for the night, and Jellie spent the time curled up next to Grian who was back to sleeping in the spare bed with his mask on and wings sprawled out to the side. While they had gotten ready, Scar told Jellie to keep Grian company while they were out of earshot. Grian, of course, felt like the chosen one when Jellie curled up at his stomach and fell asleep much easier than the previous nights, much to Scar’s delight. The night, thankfully, was uneventful.

The morning was very different. Scar woke up with a start at the feeling of that red parrot approaching the barrier. He was getting better at detecting such things, but they still didn’t have enough time. Scar had resolved to have Grian out doing tasks for him whenever the jungle showed up so that it could look like Scar was “keeping him on a tighter leash” in the jungle’s words.

“Hey, uh, Desire! Wake up!” Scar whispered loudly, fumbling to recall Grian’s nickname. Grian immediately opened his eyes and sat up. Before he could ask what was the matter, Scar interrupted with a command.

“Go and get professor Beak from your old base and bring him here. After that, meet up with the other hermits and try to stay out of the jungle. You don’t have a time limit, just help the hermits with whatever they need. Come back when I call your nickname.” After that, without missing a beat, Grian left. Scar didn’t like taking advantage of his control over Grian and promised himself that he’d apologize later, but they had to avoid suspicion.

Mere seconds later, Scar could sense the bird directly on top of his snail and he had started putting on his belt and petting Jellie, doing his best to ignore his frantically beating heart.

_The jungle has questions._

Scar felt a shiver go up his spine. What could that mean?

“What kind of questions?”

_Is the wizard not happy with his home?_

“No, I like my village a lot.”

_Does the wizard not like the bird?_

“No, he’s my friend. I enjoy his company.”

_Why does the wizard send the bird out so much?_

“There’s a lot I want to do, and he’s fine with getting supplies for me.” Scar was getting more and more nervous and his palms were starting to sweat so he stopped stroking Jellie, who made her way out of the door and to the barrier’s edge.

_Does the wizard not like the jungle?_

“No, I think you have a good heart.” Scar lied through his teeth. He wasn’t one to hate others, but he definitely didn’t like this thing talking to him in his mind.

There was an eerie silence.

_The jungle will spend the day with my wizard._

Scar took a shuddering breath. This was going to be a long day. Jellie returned to Scar with a blue bird perched diligently on her back. Scar could hear Jellie ask if Prof. Beak remembered his owner’s name. The familiar parrot fluttered up to Scar’s desk and looked him in the eyes.

“Of course.” Scar’s eyes went wide. The bird could… talk? He had heard parrots mimic mobs, but he hadn’t actually heard them talk. But just as he began to process what he had just heard, Prof. Beak started innocently whistling and imitating Jellie’s meows. Scar only knew he really had heard the bird speak when it stopped for a split second to wink at him before returning to the mindless whistling. Scar understood then why Grian had named him Prof. Beak.

“Smart bird…” Scar’s voice mumbled.

Going back to Cub who had just left his meeting with Xisuma, he stood in the shadow of Mumbo’s gigantic base. Under normal circumstances, he would have stood to admire it more, but he was on a mission. He took a deep breath and began his search.

“Mumbo! Mumbooo! I need to talk to you!” His voice echoed unnervingly through the megabase and Mumbo’s storage, looking to find its way to the ears of the mustached man. Suddenly, Cub heard the sound of a chest opening. He immediately made his way towards the noise, and found himself in a tiny room offset from Mumbo’s whole base. Hunched over a chest was the disheveled form of the normally calm and collected redstoner.

“...Mumbo?” Said hermit turned at the sound of his name and Cub’s eyes widened at the sight of his friend.

“What… happened to you?” The man looked broken, like he had been on edge and constantly in a state of jittery paranoia. Even at night, judging by the bags under his eyes.

“I… I don’t know.” Mumbo’s voice quivered and Cub immediately closed the chest Mumbo had been rummaging through and placed Mumbo’s arm around his shoulders, doing his best to support the man’s weight despite the height difference.

“Come on. I think it’s about time you got some fresh air that’s not as humid as this air.” And with that, Cub led the exhausted hermit through portals to his own desert base. Interestingly enough, the farther they went, the more Mumbo seemed to calm down. By the time they had reached the pyramid, Mumbo could think much more clearly and focus on what was actually going on, or at least as much as one could while running on only a few hours of sleep. Cub sat Mumbo down on a bed and settled next to him, making a point to lock gazes.

“You need to tell me, why are you in such a bad state?” Cub asked as gently as he could while also sounding authoritative. Mumbo broke his gaze to look downward.

“I… I really don’t know. I’ve just felt so paranoid. I keep seeing things around my base that I can’t remember building, there’s faces built in my builds that I know I’ve seen, but I don’t recognize… I’m doing things that I don’t even know how they started… and the whole time I feel like I’m being watched. I felt like I couldn’t leave, like I was betraying someone, like I was trapped, it was a prison but I can’t leave or… or…” Mumbo had stopped speaking as Cub wrapped his arms around Mumbo. Normally, he wouldn’t be the one to give hugs, but he knew Mumbo needed it.

“Don’t worry, I just found out what was going on and I need you to try and stay calm. I promise everything is going to be alright. I’ve had the same feeling recently about some of the builds here. You’re not alone in this. Do you think you can get some sleep? There are others coming who will explain as soon as they get here, but right now, you need to rest.” Cub let go of Mumbo who looked completely drained and as soon as Cub had gotten up, Mumbo had sunk down into the sheets of the bed, not even bothering to take his shoes off.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Cub mumbled to Mumbo despite knowing he couldn’t hear him. He sighed and opted to wait outside in some shade while looking to the sky and in the direction of his portal for any signs of his friends. He decided taking Mumbo to the bunker could wait.

That being said, the hermits arrived quite soon and were surprised to see that Grian had already squeezed himself in the bunker. Mumbo was a heavy sleeper and they couldn't keep an eye on him while he was in the pyramid so Xisuma carried him on his back to the bunker while Cub brought the bed he was sleeping on to place in the bunker when they arrived. Soon enough, they were all looking through the logs again, but with the addition of Mumbo, Iskall, Cub, and the bed, the group actually had to expand the room to accommodate everyone, done mostly by Stress and Grian since the two had been next to each other and Grian’s wings were causing issues for Stress as she was constantly shoved by them.

Work thankfully went quicker with more people and it wasn’t too long before Iskall had spotted an enchantment recorded that went on for almost an entire page.

“Hey, guys, I think I found something.” The entire group scrambled to look at what Iskall had found, and realized just how crammed with enchanting language this particular page was.

“This has got to be it.” Xisuma said, and the group nodded in agreement. They all looked to Grian.

“Desire, could you take this page to Heart to see if he could translate it?” Grian nodded, took the page, and took off into the distance. He knew he had to fly the whole way since he couldn’t use portals while carrying the page, so it gave him time to think. How would he avoid getting caught? Scar had sent him out in a hurry, so he assumed that he had sensed the bird coming. Lucky for him, he had also sent over Prof. Beak who was surprisingly intelligent for a bird. Maybe he and Scar could use that to their advantage.

Coincidentally, Prof. Beak and Jellie were both sitting outside of the barrier, and Grian swooped down to meet them. Before he could speak Prof. Beak nudged a book and quill in Grian’s direction. He picked it up and read the contents.

___

‘Greetings. I know you might recognize the writing style, but it is I, Professor Beak. Your wizard friend is currently caught in a bit of a scuffle. Lovely Jellie and I have concluded that we must keep you away for the time being, as the village is being closely monitored at the moment. If you have something to inform him of, please leave it with us and we will ensure its safety. Also, Jellie had insisted that I give you a message from her, which I have transcribed to the exact letter:

Hi Hiiii~ I’m so glad the professor can write! Anyway, I thought you should know something really really important! We can say you guys’ names! Well, more like the professor can. We can’t write them though. I’m so glad at least one human can understand me now though! Anyway, I really hope we can help! I believe in you all! :D

She insisted that I add the smiley face to improve your mood. I wish you luck and prosperity as well as a clean victory for the hermits.’

___

Grian smiled at the note and used a finger to ruffle the feathers on Prof. Beak’s head and using his other hand to stroke Jellie.

“...Pesky bird.” He whispered. After he had done so, he grabbed the quill, copied the writing on the log to the best of his ability while the cat and bird kept watch. He finally finished after quite a bit of time and placed the book down so that Jellie could pick it up when she needed to. He kept his grip on the paper and whispered to Prof. Beak:

“Translate.” The word was responded to by a quiet whistle before Grian flew off, paper in hand. When he arrived at the edge of the jungle, he heard a loud skwak from behind him. He turned around to see Prof. Beak flying towards him. Grian landed and his parrot circled his head for a while before speaking in a loud bird call of a voice:

“Good luck, Grian!” And the bird promptly flew off. Grian was stunned. His name, that was his name! Someone remembered his name, and he had just heard them call it! He was ecstatic. With a sudden burst of energy, Grian spread his wings and launched himself from the ground. He flew and tumbled around the sky at top speed in the direction of the desert. His name was on repeat in his head the whole way there. He was so unbelievably happy to have something that was exclusively his again and wished the feeling could carry him smoothly through their fight for freedom.

But the world is rarely so kind. Grian was completely unaware of what Scar was going through back at the village. And not a single hermit was aware of what the coming days would bring, nor were they prepared.


	10. Chapter 10

Scar had resolved to meditate that day. He was being observed, that much he knew. Scar knew himself not to have the best poker face and had learned from experience that meditation can help calm the mind. And, let's be honest, if the rest of the day was going to be like Scar predicted, then he'd need all of the mental strength he could get. He had seen Jellie and Prof. Beak leave the snail while he was getting dressed again, and trusted them to stay out of trouble. He eventually made his way down the ladder and could feel a gaze boring into him. Despite this, he did his best to relax.

As he traversed his village, he spotted the shulker box with the magic crystals he had stashed away. He opened the box and started rummaging through, picking out a few crystals and making sure to grab more than one Courage of the Lion crystal. Truthfully, he wasn't comfortable with the colorful minerals anymore and knew that once all of this had blown over, seeing another one of these would be too soon. As exciting as magic was, he'd had enough for at least a few months.

As Scar placed the crystals in a small circle surrounding the spot he'd sat in last time, he promised himself that he'd make a different base somewhere out of the jungle that wasn't so… magic themed. Once he had finished placing all of the crystals down, he sat in the middle cross-legged and placed his hands in his lap. He closed his eyes and did his absolute best to ignore the intense gaze he felt burning holes into his back. He tried to match his breathing with a count in his head and focused on his thoughts. Of course, he didn't do this for long before his thoughts were so rudely invaded by that horribly intrusive voice.

_What is my wizard doing?_

Scar jumped at the sudden question, but answered nonetheless.

"I'm meditating."

_Why?_

"To learn magic better." He wasn't technically lying, just not telling the whole truth. He did want to learn magic just in case, but he mostly wanted to look busy and innocent.

_My wizard said that his bird went to gather supplies. My wizard said that he had things to do. Why isn't my wizard doing them?_

Scar sighed, hoping that it sounded exasperated by an obvious question instead of sounding like he was preparing himself. This was trial number one in his mind.

"I can't start unless I have all of the materials. If I use placeholder blocks, it'll come out wrong." There, that had to be a decent answer. Scar waited and took the silence as acceptance. And so, he let his mind focus yet again. He knew that quite some time had passed and did his best to ignore the ever growing feeling of frustration emanating from the very distracting entity watching his every move.

_My wizard is wasting time._

This actually hit a nerve with Scar, unlike the previous question. While it may not look like much, he knew even if he wasn't learning magic, meditation could help sharpen the mind. He kept his eyes closed and answered again. Trial number two.

"This isn't a waste of time. Mental health is important and I need to spend more time than normal doing this so that I can focus on my magic properly." He did actually mean this. He'd had quite a few… experiences with his vex magic and was no stranger to using the stuff. However, the jungle had given him a different kind of magic that was almost completely the opposite. While the vex magic was easy to use and required mental stability to control, this magic was easy to control but required mental stability to use. The voice again seemed to accept this answer and went quiet.

By the next time the voice spoke, Scar had actually made some progress. He was slowly expanding the range he could sense the presence of creatures and was even able to slightly amplify the power of the magic crystals sitting around him. He was also sensed Grian's approach of the barrier, but felt him fly away some time after. He made a tiny mental note about it but ultimately decided to pretend like it never happened. However, the voice obviously was not taking note of this progress and spoke yet again.

_My wizard has spent enough time there. My wizard should call back his bird._

Trial number three. Scar actually opened his eyes this time and looked to the village house in front of him.

"I'd prefer that he finish gathering the resources. But if you're getting that frustrated, then I'll start the build." And Scar reluctantly got up. He had occupied as much time as he could, but knew it was better to keep the entity that had him imprisoned happy.

As he made his way back to the snail after putting away the crystals, he was happy to see that it was a bit after noon. He also wracked his brain for what block might take the longest to collect. If he planned a build focused around that block, then Grian being gone for so long to collect it would make sense. Scar silently thought as he took his time strolling over to his chest monster. What block could be so hard to collect a lot of that it would warrant being gone for days? Scar was greatful for the first time ever that he had such a big organization problem; it bought him time to think. As he rummaged through shulker after shulker, it hit him.

Sponges. It was an ugly block, but he'd have to find a way to use stacks of them in a build. He'd settled on building some kind of giant wasp when the voice startled him again, this time sounding commanding.

_What is the bird getting exactly? The wizard will tell the jungle and not avoid the question._

Scar was starting to run out of steam dealing with this situation for the day, but was glad he had come up with an answer just in time.

"Sponges." And he was met with a silence yet again. He shuffled around in his chests for much longer than what was normally necessary and gathered together an assortment of blocks. As he constructed the insect in the most methodical way he could when he didn't even have a plan a few minutes ago, he fumbled quite a few times due to the knowledge he was being watched. Even so, he'd managed to get into a rhythm and mostly ignore the constant presence. By the time he had finished the outline and all the parts that were black and transparent, he had come to the part where he'd need the obscene amount of sponges that Grian was supposedly getting. Luckily, he was able to build slow enough that the sun was almost ready to set. He felt proud for a small moment before his entire plan shattered like glass in front of him

_WIZARD._

The voice sent a shiver through Scar's entire being. He couldn't bring himself to respond, nor turn towards the presence that was now overwhelmingly obvious.

_MY WIZARD. YOU HAVE BETRAYED THE JUNGLE._

What? How? What could he possibly have done? He'd done everything right, so why was this happening? What could it possibly have found? Scar was still frozen, but his movement proved unneeded as the unnerving red parrot glided down in front of him, a lead gripped in its beak and a ripped paper crumpled in its foot. Scar's eyes followed the lead and to his horror, he saw both Jellie and Prof. Beak roughly tied together at the end with no room for movement.

"Apologies…" was what came out from Grian's beloved bird as a strangled chirp, and Scar could understand Jellie's guilty apology through that were just as strained. It was in that moment that whatever sympathy Scar might've had for this entity was lost, never to be seen again.

"Let them go." Scar's voice cracked. He was still terrified, but he'd fight back. This thing showed now that it was willing to physically hurt others, and it upset him to no end. It had already hurt them all emotionally, but now that Scar had seen it actually actively hurt someone he cared about, he realized that he couldn't stall anymore or risk this thing getting out of control. He was already scolding himself for not paying attention to it earlier, but his mind was focused on keeping it occupied. But he couldn't get past his first demand before the voice exploded at him.

_Let them go?_

_LET THEM GO!? THE JUNGLE REFUSES._

_The jungle has been alone for DECADES. The jungle has seen so many others LEAVE. The jungle has been HURT. EXPLOITED. LEFT TO DIE. Now. The jungle finally has something that will STAY. And the little wizard wants me to LET. THEM. GO!?_

_THE JUNGLE WILL NOT BE ALONE. THE WIZARD WILL NEVER LEAVE. THE GROUP WILL NOT LEAVE._

**_WE._ **

**_WILL._ **

**_NEVER._ **

**_BE._ **

**_ALONE._ **

And with that final declaration echoing and pounding against Scar's consciousness, a wave of energy exploded throughout the whole world, felt by every monster, pet, and hermit alike. Entities were relocated, barriers were materialized, and to top it all off, traces of the jungle hermits were all wiped from others' minds. Scar hadn't even realized that he collapsed down to his knees and was quivering, holding his head as his consciousness was flickering in and out due to the sensory overload this thing was exposing him to. It lasted too long for Scar's comfort. And suddenly, he heard a voice. A voice that under any other circumstance he would have been happy to hear.

"Wh… what. I… this is… " Xisuma stuttered, panic and disorientation dripping from his voice. He had started to remember what had previously been forgotten, but there was an obvious catch. Scar brought himself to look up and sure enough, there was their admin standing there, clad in bee-themed clothing. This had been the norm up until then, but the clothing wasn't his normal armor and helmet, rather his body was adorned in fuzzy bright yellow and black accessories, looking not unlike pelts. What disturbed Scar even more was the fact he could see his iridescent green eyes from behind a bee mask that covered nearly his entire face. Scar stood up, afraid to test what he was about to test. Xisuma looked at him wide-eyed and questioning, but didn't say anything.

"Tell me your name."

"It's-" and Xisuma couldn't say anything more. Scar's heart sank. Scar sighed and slumped against a tree, mentally lashing out at himself for messing up.

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't blame yourself." Grian's voice rang out from among the jungle ambiance and Scar looked up to meet his eyes. Sure enough, there was Grian's violet eyes looking at him through the feathered mask, concerned. Scar didn't miss the other eyes all staring at him from behind grian, and each was covered in showy clothes and hidden behind masks.

"We'll find a way to fix this." Grian was obviously trying to be encouraging, but Scar caught how he was slowly getting more and more tense.

"Exactly. We can do this." Stress spoke up from Grian's right, her flowery mask and petal-covered outfit fluttering with her movement. Scar could hear that she was trying to convince herself of this after regaining the memory she had lost.

"But… we can't leave the village, right?" Iskall spoke up from behind Stress, and his wooden mask peeked out from behind her, the jewels adorning it and the intricate wooden beads on his new outfit glittering in the partial sunlight.

"Maybe, but that didn't stop those two." Etho countered as he motioned to Grian and Scar, his dark clothing making his body blend into the shadows of the forest while his silver-gilded mask made his face stand out intensely, and he somehow looked more ghost than human.

"But… now not even he" Mumbo said, motioning to Grian. "can cross that barrier. That's how we spoke before…" the despair in his burgundy eyes was evident through his metallic mask and his fidgeting was made obvious as all of the metal parts on his new clothing clinked with the movement and the small redstone accents would occasionally flicker with light.

"Maybe…" Xisuma piped up, now having gained his bearings.

"But there are more of us trapped here now. The others will surely figure out something is wrong. After all, there's so many people here that erasing all of us from their memories is bound to cause trouble." The others nodded thoughtfully, but Iskall suddenly spoke up.

"Okay, but before we go any further and before that thing recovers from doing… whatever it did to us…" he turns to face Scar.

"We're going to need some explanation." He motioned to his own outfit that was a great contrast to what he normally wore. Scar gave a humorless chuckle.

"Alright, but before I say anything else, make sure you guys don't take off your masks."


	11. Chapter 11

"This… is insane." Iskall ran his fingers through his hair and Scar could see his turquoise eye widen and look up in distressed contemplation. The others, aside from Scar and Grian themselves were in a similar emotional state, but to varying degrees. Stress was trying to stay positive with a debatable amount of success, but she managed to keep a strained smile on her face even though she knew nobody could see it. Xisuma and Mumbo were already starting to feel guilty for not doing enough in their eyes, although Mumbo was more upset with himself for sleeping while the others scoured documents. Xisuma was slightly more collected, but felt just as guilty for not catching on to the idea of magic sooner. Etho was the calmest overall but he had a unique way of dealing with situations like these. He still had worry in his eyes, but his mannerisms were deceptively calm.

Scar and Grian meanwhile were stoic in the eyes of their friends, but guilt was already twisting knots in both of their stomachs. Scar felt bad despite Grian's assurance and previous statements to not blame himself. After all, it was his job to lead the two of them and keep the entity happy and not suspicious. He wasn't paying enough attention to it and the situation left his control. It had left his control the moment he let his gaze wander from the objective when he was building. His mind filled with regret after regret as he explained the situation, only to be greeted with the unbridled distress of all his friends. True, he had wanted to talk with them again, but not like this.

Grian wasn't much better. He was grateful for his mask for once as it hid most of his expression and wanted to appear at least somewhat strong at heart. He'd experienced isolation before and knowing his actions wouldn't be his own as long as this went unresolved was another unfortunately familiar feeling. Truthfully, he envied Ethos's ability to react so neutrally and lightly to any situation. Grian after all, didn't heed his own advice and found himself blaming himself for the capture of their beloved pets. If he had only held onto the book for a bit longer then the hermits might not be where they were, trapped.

"We'll be fine! It'll be fine, we just… need a plan!" Stress offered, turning to face Mumbo who looked ready to pass out for the second time that day.

"Yeah," Iskall agreed, noticing her efforts to try and calm the group.

"We'll be fine. We've got even more people on the case, and at this point I don't think things could possibly-"

"Don't!" Iskall was cut off by Grian.

"What?" Iskall almost looked offended.

"You… you weren't seriously going to say things can't get worse, right?" Xisuma inquired with a small smile evident in his voice while Etho, Grian, and Stress all gave an exasperated sigh.

"That's the most basic of basic! Don't jinx it!" Grian exclaimed with teasing frustration. The hermits were incredibly glad to hear a small chuckle from Mumbo who was comforted by the familiar banter. Scar saw this and straightened his posture, which gave him an authoritative look.

"Alright, as much as we need to leave this place, there is genuinely not much we can do, trust me I know from experience. However, what will definitely come in handy is keeping sane. I think we should take the rest of today and until noon tomorrow to just… get more used to this and observe the situation. What do you guys think?" Scar asked, addressing the others, but careful not to phrase the proposal like a command, or risk them being incapable of disagreeing. He scanned the small crowd and looked for signs of objection.

"I mean, I get where you're coming from, but shouldn't we like, actually do stuff?" Iskall asked, tilting his head.

"But what would we do? We can't go anywhere anymore, we saw that when we first got here and… Desire tried to leave. So unless the entity actually approaches us, I don't think we can affect anything right now." Etho countered as he moved forward so that he wasn't stuck in the outskirts of the group.

"I agree. We're not giving up. We're just biding our time. If we can't get this taken care of immediately, it seems like our only option is to take it as slowly and carefully as possible." Xisuma said.

"... Yeah, I think so too." The group was surprised to hear Mumbo speak up so calmly, in great contrast to his frantic tone not five minutes earlier. He continued speaking despite noticing their expressions behind the masks.

"I mean, you're really not wrong. That thing's seriously powerful and I wouldn't want to mess with it until we've got a plan. It's already not the finest of situations right now, so hopefully we can keep this attempt at victory from going horribly wrong?" He phrased it like a question, but it was obvious that he was fairly confident in his point. And from the looks of it, so were the others.

"Yeah, I agree with- aw come on, why can't I just say names normally?" Stress vented, pouting a bit.

"Trust me, it's all fun and games til you forget your own name." Grian grumbled in a half-teasing tone.

"Wait, seriously? How'd you do that?" Iskall asked, surprised.

"Spent the night in a timeless void. Zero out of ten, would not recommend. That's part of the reason you guys need to keep the masks on." Grian said, slightly more lightheartedly while lightly tapping his own mask. He still internally shivered at the memory and repeated his name in his head a few times, just to be safe. He got some strange looks but nobody asked any more.

"Alright, well I guess all we can do is wait then. Perhaps we could do some mining or farming…?" Xisuma offered, raising a hand to his neck to brush off the tickle that his fuzzy attire was inflicting. Normally, he was keen on costume changes, but his lack of actual protection in the form of armor made him feel a bit too vulnerable and he was hyper-aware of any sensations like the fuzz brushing against his skin.

Scar nodded and held up a hand to give him time to consider his next words. He wanted to be as unrestricted as possible and already felt horrible for the hermits who were now stuck in the village. While the village itself was fairly large, it was small for a group of seven hermits who were used to having the entire world at their fingertips and lived in giant megabases filled with whatever they pleased.

"Alright, you guys can roam freely and do what you want. I'll leave it to your judgement and if you want something to do, then you can ask me for a task." Scar finished his command and was pleased to see that all of the hermits were nodding and dispersing into smaller groups. Iskall and Stress went to explore the village, Etho, Mumbo, and Xisuma went to harvest crops alongside the inhabitants of the village who were members of some unclear species. Scar went to take down the build he worked on earlier as he didn't like its placement, and Grian drifted over to the village perimeter and took to walking circles around the whole area.

Quite a bit of time passed as the hermits scattered themselves throughout the village, and as Stress and Iskall took their time wandering and meeting the village inhabitants, Stress decided to strike up a conversation.

"He did really good. Heart, I mean. This place is really incredible." She said, even though her eyes were looking down so that her bare feet could avoid anything sharp or otherwise painful. Despite the lovely colors on her clothing, she didn't like wearing it. She much preferred her jacket and pants, and wasn't too keen on the loose fitting skirt and the sleeveless top. Not that she didn't enjoy wearing something like that from time to time, but she preferred to be more covered up while she was still outside in a jungle filled with bugs and plants that could cause serious irritation or even hurt her. She was perfectly capable of toughing it out but that didn't mean she was happy about it.

Iskall could agree with Stress on two fronts: one being his admiration for Scar's building ability and the other being his discomfort with the new addition to his closet that he was forced to wear. Much like Stress, he didn't have any shoes protecting his feet. Also like Stress, the outfit was not even close to being suitable for protection of any sort while living in the jungle. He was reminded of his early days when he had to wear leather armor as his last line of defense. It didn't look bad, but he desperately wanted to remove the obnoxiously loud wooden beads that rattled and clicked with his every step. He decided to copy Stress's actions and keep his eyes on the expertly constructed pathway.

"Yeah…" he mumbled, acknowledging Stress's attempt at conversation, but ultimately allowing it to die and the two fell into a silence as they passed by the fields where Etho was very nearly passed out on a stone wall while Mumbo fanned him.

Etho's clothes were very unlike the others as they consisted of only black and covered every inch of his body. Under just about any other circumstance, he would've been just fine with the thick clothing, but the air of the jungle was just as thick with humidity and sadly, the shadowy fabric didn't breathe like his normal attire would and the poor man was overheating, unable to do much about it. He of course had tried to remove at least some of the piled on fabric, but a mysterious force had kept him from doing so. He simply sat on that wall, drenched in sweat while listening to the clink of Mumbo's apparel as he fanned him with some paper he had fashioned into a makeshift fan.

Mumbo didn't want to say anything, but he was just as uncomfortable as the rest of the hermits. His garbs were made almost completely out of metal scraps and would have almost resembled armor if it wasn't so heavy on the decorative side of the spectrum. It looked more like bulky jewelry and poor Etho and Xisuma had to listen to the constant clink of metal and fizzle of redstone that moved with his waving arm. He would've switched places with Xisuma who was tending to the crops, but spending too much time in the direct sunlight the crops required would've made the metal heat up and become slightly closer to being absolutely unbearable to wear.

Scar had stopped in the middle of taking down the build and observed the uncomfortable hermits, wishing desperately that he could help, but nothing came to mind when he tried to fabricate a plan. He was more used to spending a lot of time there, trapped, than the others and considered proposing they meditate like Scar had done and since found very useful. He decided against it since they all wore a look that said they didn't want to be bothered, especially Xisuma who was focused on his harvesting and Iskall who had decided to sit down on the stone rim surrounding the central crystal, next to a concerned Stress who would occasionally glance in his direction. As his gaze drifted from one hermit to another, he realized that he hadn't seen Grian circle back around in a while.

"I bet he got distracted by something, right?" Scar mumbled to himself, but couldn't ignore a sinking feeling he got in the pit of his stomach. He tried to convince himself that Grian was probably the most collected out of them all and wouldn't need the worry. It was Grian after all, he took almost everything with a smile and joke and had been supportive of Scar during his brief episodes of panic and self-blame. He was quick to overcome his slump when he had forgotten his name and would even joke about it. Even so, Scar found himself walking in the direction he could feel Grian's presence in.

His footsteps quickened as he reached the farthest end of the barrier, and grew even more concerned when he heard quiet, scratchy sobs among the sounds of the jungle. He came to an abrupt halt when Grian's colorful feathers came into view.

It was like watching a completely different person. He was clawing and scraping against the barrier, occasionally ramming himself into it like a feral animal who had been locked in a cage too small to contain it. The poor man hardly looked like he was in control of his own panic and he showed no restraint in his desperate attacks against the barrier. Scar froze, not knowing what to do, and the longer he stood, the louder Grian's sobs got until he finally shouted,

"LET. ME. OUT." before slamming his whole body into the barrier and collapsing to the ground and gripping his head so hard his hands were quivering. Scar snapped out of his stupor and rushed over to Grian, making sure his footsteps were audible so that he could be heard coming. Sure enough, Grian's masked face whirled around at the sound of Scar's approach and Scar was able to see the wild terror in his eyes. He knelt down and gently placed his hands on Grian's, smiling softly when he felt the grip slightly loosen.

As Scar searched his mind for what to say that wouldn't force Grian to do something he didn't want to, he saw Grian's eyes suddenly loose their crazed stare and his shoulders slumped as his hands flopped down to his lap. He was still gasping for air in between sobs, but he had regained his senses.

"I'm… sorry. I don't know what… happened there." He mumbled, choking slightly and breaking eye contact.

"It's fine. You'll be fine." Scar spoke in the softest voice he could, in hopes that he'd sound reassuring. He wanted to ask Grian about it, but decided to wait for him to calm down more. In all honesty, Grian himself didn't know what had happened. It wasn't like him to snap like that, but knowing he was stuck in such a small area made his mind jittery and his memories of previous worlds came flooding back. Worlds in which his actions were not to be determined by him. Scar took advantage of the silence to speak some words he dearly hoped would calm their minds.

"You'll be free, Desire. I promise." Scar was surprised by the pure confidence in his voice as he spoke. Hope and leadership dripped from his tone and somehow, he was the most sure he'd ever been. If a solution wouldn't come to them, then he would come up with his own, and he'd made that promise now. He'd made a similar one extremely recently to the same person, but it wasn't a promise he was sure he could keep. He made it to convince himself that he was capable. Now, he made the promise because he was prepared to do everything he could to fulfill it, whether he was capable or not.

Grian said nothing, instead he looked directly into Scar's eyes, gave a tiny, tired nod and stood up, slightly shaky. Scar didn't miss the bruises forming on Grian's skin where he had collided with the barrier, but chose not to say anything. Without a word, Grian took off to the sky, flying as high as he possibly could. Scar knew him well enough that he could guess fairly well what Grian was doing. If he couldn't fly out of the village, then he'd fly up where there was no barrier to keep him trapped. Scar stayed sitting there, waiting for Grian's return after blowing off some steam by soaring higher than most hermits would deem comfortable.

As Grian soared higher and higher, he rid his mind of his mask, his restraints, his friends, his home, and pretended like he was free to fly wherever he wished on a pair of enchanted elytra and an inventory filled to the brim with rockets. He flew so high he couldn't see the village behind all the fog and he felt his ears pop. He remembered his aerial battle with the wither and smiled fondly. He considered a trip to the cowmmercial district and told himself that he'd find some unfortunate hermit to prank. It was nice to think about such simple things. He considered Doc, someone who was fun to mess with and willing to play the opposing side to Grian's shenanigans. Eventually he decided the air was getting too thin and Grian let himself plummet to the ground, relishing in the feeling of freefall.

But as all things must, the temporary freedom had to end and Grian expertly flipped himself around and slowed to a glide to the ground, a fair distance away from where he had first taken off.

"Want to go see the other hermits?" Scar questioned from his sitting position on the jungle floor in the exact spot where Grian had suddenly lost himself.

"Yeah. I think we should find something fun to do instead of just letting our minds run wild." Grian said in a simultaneously exhausted and revitalized voice. Scar nodded and the two went to gather the other hermits, right as the sun was dipping over the horizon.


	12. Chapter 12

Doc had spent some time away from the newest world inhabited by his fellow hermits. He had determined that he needed the time, but after the handful of weeks he spent away had come and gone, he decided that his return was due. He truly was excited to spend his days in the world and create what he wanted to create, but his excitement was dashed as soon as he had fully materialized in the hermit-inhabited world.

His mind went from clear to suddenly foggy and he had to stable himself against a nearby wall as he regained his composure. Something was already up and Doc hadn’t even been there for five minutes. He knew something was wrong, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t pinpoint what. He straightened his posture and looked forward to the deep waters in deep contemplation. Doc was smart and resilient, able to survive when odds were stacked against him and part of the reason for that was that he could react well to small signs. He could tell this feeling was out of place and knew better than to ignore it.

Just as he was about to confront Xisuma about the oddity, he suddenly felt a wave of energy pulse through the landscape and he doubled over, gripping his head in pain, the circuitry part of his body not coping well with the mysterious event. His already foggy mind became even more clouded as memories and experiences of his escaped his mind with nothing he could do to prevent it. He let out a sizzling hiss, something he hadn't done in quite some time, much to his immense displeasure. Whatever this was, it was messing with his base instincts and he didn't much care for it. He rather liked his ability to act human and the animalistic hissing was throwing a wrench in his normal, civilized behavior. The pain only lasted a few drawn-out seconds, but once those seconds had ended, Doc had completely forgotten who he was going to confront.

“Hey, you’re back!” Doc heard a voice sound from behind him and slowly turned around to see Bdubs there, seemingly unaware of the energy that had just come crashing through. Doc didn’t respond, rather he kept staring at Bdubs with a harsh look on his face and still slightly hunched over from the shock. Bdubs took notice of this and his face fell. Doc didn’t miss that he was already looking somewhat distressed and more tired than he should be, considering it’s Bdubs, and his face falling made his appearance age several years. He looked exhausted.

“You okay?” Bdubs asked carefully. Doc finally let his head go and stood up to his full, rather intimidating, height. His expression remained harsh.

“What’s been going on lately?” He asked in a low voice, the small hiss still lingering as he spoke.

“Well, the mayoral thing is… still uh… “ Bdubs began speaking but his voice wavered, as if his thoughts had somehow ceased to feed his words. He looked down at the ground away from Doc, and Doc realized quickly that the hermit was getting lost in his own thoughts, like he was trying desperately to tell Doc something that he didn’t even know. He eventually continued speaking in slow, distant sentences.

“...it’s still going on… I know you don’t have any votes though.” Bdubs was growing more and more tense and Doc could tell he was wracking his brain for more to share.

“Those… builds in the jungle… haven’t been… claimed…” He was now visibly struggling to speak and Doc decided enough was enough.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go look around on my own.” Doc said.

“But I have one more question.” he followed up, grabbing the attention of Bdubs again.

“Yeah?”

“Who are the other candidates again?” Doc asked the question for two reasons: one was that he wanted to see if he could get Bdubs to actually talk with some coherency, and the other was because he himself had actually forgotten.

“Well, let’s see. There’s you, Falsie… uh Joe? Maybe? I think he’s just running for dogcatcher. There’s some… other faces on the poll, but I think they’re just… filler? But some people are supporting them… and I… I think I…” It was at this point Doc held up a hand to stop him.

“Alright. I’ll go look.” And without another word, Doc took to the skies.

Miles away, and some minutes prior, Cleo was taking a walk to clear her mind. She hadn’t been able to think straight for a few days now and was doing her best to clear her head. She had been staying away from the cowmmercial district in hopes that she'd be able to get some rest and get her thoughts straightened out. Unfortunately, that wasn't working as well as she had hoped. She was getting more and more out of touch with her own actions and her body was having a hard time keeping up with her scattered mind.

As she walked at a pace slower than she'd ever normally walk, she felt a sudden tugging at her mind and her breath hitched. In a moment of weakness, her vision faltered and her mind became even more clouded. Suddenly the world looked so much more confusing than it ever had and none of the memories in her mind would align or give any semblance of clarity. Her world was beginning to fall apart, but to her immense frustration, she couldn't pinpoint what was actually going on. She let out a familiar yet unwelcome growl as she stormed back to her base to grab her elytra and some rockets. She had a destination in mind and as much as she would have loved to solve the issue herself, she could barely keep her own thoughts from spiraling out of control and falling straight into the void.

As she flew to the cowmmercial district, she fought to keep her mind from sprinting out of her grasp. She'd dealt with similar instincts before because of her half-dead state of being. Normally, it wasn't a problem in the slightest. It had been when she'd first undergone such a change in physical being, that being alive to only somewhat alive, but now she was strong of mind and and body and had enough wits to know her own limits. However, whatever was messing with her at that's moment was giving her a run for her money.

The cowmmercial district portal faded into her view and as she dove for it, she wondered who's help she was actually going to get. After all, for the life of her, she couldn't remember who their admin was.

Coincidentally quite close to the cowmmercial district was Jevin who was lazily slumped against a chest, watching ores from his last mining session smelt in the line or furnaces he'd set up. He'd been in a slump for a few days and his mind simply wouldn't cooperate with him. He was less human than nearly every other hermit and sometimes his mind and body would reflect that in the most annoying ways.

Like the other non-human hermits, Jevin was usually not bothered by his situation, but unlike the others, he had never actually officially been classified as more human than slime. That's not to say he wasn't just as civilized as any other hermit, just that his base instincts would come to bite him more often than he'd like. His human attributes were learned rather than obtained like Cleo's transformation or Doc's cyborg parts.

As Jevin sat on top of his base, he thought as best he could for ideas to somehow get out of this slump that was worse than any he'd had for a while. He silently cursed the simple-mindedness of the generic slime as he wracked his brain. As he did so however, an electric feeling coursed through his body. He'd felt something similar a few days ago, though not nearly as strong. If Jevin had lungs to breathe with, they would have stopped in mid-breath in response to the sensation. He got up quickly and noticed just how limited his memories were at that point.

He could barely think straight or remember anything. He hated it. He scrambled to grab his elytra and rockets. He had to get to the cowmmercial district. He'd spend the day with whatever hermit was there. He always found it easier to keep his sanity when he had another clear-minded person to communicate with and observe. He rocketed in the direction of the district and made a silent promise to himself that he'd never let go of the humanity he'd worked so hard for.

All three hermits, Doc, Cleo, and Jevin had crossed paths almost immediately. Each were relieved. Admittedly they were relieved for different reasons, but nonetheless, they were more than happy to see the others. Before any of them could greet the others, Doc spoke up, clearly agitated.

"What's been going on here lately? Something's wrong, I know it." It was a statement that was somehow both astonishingly vague but also strangely specific. There was a slight hissing undertone to the whole statement that was not normally there but the other two chose to ignore. Cleo and Jevin were quite surprised at the very direct inquiry.

"I wish I knew. These past few days haven't been great for me. I don't know what's going on, but my brain is having a hard time keeping up." Cleo huffed with a slight rasp in her voice.

"Yeah… I don't know what's going on, but I just can't function right…" Jevin spoke as if he struggled to get the words out, much to his own dismay and increasing panic. The three stood in silence as they all did their best to clear their minds and come up with some course of action. It was Doc that spoke up yet again.

"Bdubs said something about extra mayoral candidates. I'm going to check out the poll." And without waiting for a response, he turned tail and marched over to the poll. Cleo and Jevin followed close behind. Cleo was counting her steps so that she wouldn't trip like she had been doing recently with her reduced bodily control and Jevin was mumbling to himself and naming the objects they passed to keep his mind from running away. The three were struggling with their base instincts and it drove them all crazy. None of them knew why they were suddenly having problems arise seemingly out of nowhere.

Doc approached the poll and saw a replica of his face sitting on a brisk pedestal. Cleo and Jevin moved into look.

"So there's Doc," Jevin began before turning to look at the pedestal behind him.

"Joe," his gaze drifted back to Doc's pedestal and he took some steps to his right and suddenly froze when he saw the face placed there. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open. Cleo and Doc lifted their gaze from Doc's pedestal to look at him, concerned at his sudden halt.

"Jevin?" Cleo prompted.

"What's wro-" she cut herself off as she saw the face on the pedestal and her eyes almost went as wide as Jevin's. Doc shuffled over and had a reaction slightly more subdued, but definitely with just as much shock. Sitting in front of them was a face they recognized, but at the same time, didn't. It was like they shouldn't recognize it and they all felt that up until that very moment, they would never have been able to picture the face.

The features were unmistakable. The brown eyes, the colorful flowers, the magenta surrounding it. All of it was familiar to the hermits as they all stared blankly at the likeness of the candidate that they didn't know existed until now. As seconds turned to minutes, the three stood there frozen as thoughts were cleared, memories revealed and their minds finally placed closer to their grasp. Cleo was very aware of the sudden clarity and was the first to wonder why they had forgotten something so important in the first place. Jevin was the first to speak up however.

"... Stress…" he mumbled. At the name, Doc's mind was reeling and his emotions started to overwhelm him along with a barrage of questions. How had they forgotten her? Where even was she? Were there others that they had forgotten?

"We… forgot her?" Cleo almost sounded heartbroken. She had forgotten a friend that she was close to, and it hurt.

"We… we must have forgotten others…" Cleo forced out. The phrase tasted bitter on her lips, and the very idea was painful to grasp, but it was a realization that all three of them had to come to. Their minds were clearer than they had been in the past few days, but a fog still covered a great deal. Jevin suddenly dashed over to the pedestal to his right again and as soon as he saw it, he shouted the first name that came to mind,

"Scar!" Hearing the name had a similar effect on the trio and fond memories came flooding back. Jevin wasted no time and eagerly ran over to the next pedestal.

"False," the name was one they already had memories of, so Jevin didn't linger.

"Mumbo" Jevin said as the fog was further lifted from each of the hermits' minds. All three had no idea what to do with this new development. They could tell that there were still significant holes in their memories, but without a reference like the heads, there was no way they could think of to remember who had been forgotten. Two of the three hermits were frustrated by this while the third was wracking his brain for a solution, backed by no discernable emotion. For whatever reason, some strange force was keeping them from thinking straight which was vital for these three in particular since they had to keep a constant grasp on their unnaturally obtained humanity.

Doc took a deep breath and closed his eye to focus. He laid the information out in his mind, taking advantage of the newfound clarity that hearing those names had brought him. For whatever reason, being in this world had caused them to forget some of their friends. As for how many they had forgotten, it was impossible to tell. They each remembered the details of whomever’s name was spoken, but the name didn’t come to them unless they actually saw the hermits’ face.

“We need to gather the others.” Cleo said, obviously coming to a similar conclusion as Doc. Jevin turned to face her, his mind still lagging behind like it had years ago, before he’d completely gained his sentience.

“I’ll follow you.” was all he could muster while he was still plagued by the fog in his mind. All three were feeling the full effects of their communication limitations, so all they did was nod and silently agree to follow Doc who had taken off to the portal first. As Doc led them through the sky, he spotted Cub soaring in the opposite direction and waved to him, beckoning him to the ground. Cub spotted him and the two hermits behind him and glided to a position below them almost directly next to the district portal.

“Hey Doc, what’s up?” Cub said in a tone that sounded too disoriented to not be concerning.

“A lot.” Doc said, keeping it simple. Their minds were definitely clearer than before, but the constant strain and still prominent fog was making communication more and more difficult. Luckily, Cleo stepped in with a better explanation.

“Something bad is going on here. We need you to look at something for us, and hopefully we’ll get some answers.” She knew the explanation wasn’t as detailed as Cub probably would have liked, but interestingly enough, he didn’t argue and Cleo could almost spot a glimmer of hope in his tired eyes.

Without saying much else, the three led Cub back to the mayoral poll and motioned toward Scar’s modeled face. Cub’s eyes fell on it, but much to the trio’s dismay, they only saw his brows furrow in even further confusion, if that was even possible.

“Who is that…?” Cub asked in a quiet, almost inaudible tone. For whatever reason, asking that question made his chest tighten in guilt and hurt, as if he’d committed some horrible act by not knowing who he was looking at.

“You… don’t know?” Jevin asked, also sounding hurt for a reason unknown to Cub.

“...no.” And a thick silence stretched across the district, only the sound of wind cascading across the island was heard. Eventually, Jevin spoke up again.

“It’s… Scar.” And at hearing the name, Cub’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes shot wide open and he suddenly knew why not knowing the name made him feel so awful.

“I… I forgot him?” His voice cracked with emotion, and both Cleo and Jevin moved closer. Jevin attempted to comfort him, but the words died in his mouth. Cleo spoke instead.

“We all did. There’s more though. There’s Stress and Mumbo too. We don’t know who else, but we know there are more. Don’t… feel guilty, okay? We’re pretty sure everyone here had their minds wiped.” More silence.

“Cleo?” Cub suddenly asked, the previous hurt completely gone from his voice.

“Yeah?”

“You have a collection of heads from the head game, right?” and all at once, every face in attendance lit up with hope.

“Let’s go.” Cleo said, not even bothering to confirm anything with the others, not that they minded. All that mattered to them at that moment was getting to Cleo’s collection and remembering all they could. Getting there took barely a minute with how fast they were all going and Cleo tore open the shulkers containing the heads and scattered them across the floor. One by one, as they spotted the familiar faces, names came rushing back to them all.

“Etho, Iskall, Xisuma, Grian… they’re all here.” Doc said as his mind was finally cleared from all of what was obstructing his thoughts.

“And I can remember all of them, but…” Cub said, with some distress layered in his voice. The other three looked over to him, their expressions dropping.

“What?” Jevin asked hesitantly, the words flowing much better than they had been for the past few days.

“...I don’t know why, but I can’t say their names.” Cub said, confused yet again.

“How strange…” Doc mumbled, the hissing undertone completely gone from his voice.

“We can think about that later. We need to message the other hermits to come here immediately.” Cleo said with renewed strength and clarity. The others agreed and took to their communicators, calling everyone to their location so that they could get a look at those heads and figure out why Cub was so far the only one of the four who couldn’t speak the forgotten hermits’ names.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Just wanted to make a small note to warn you guys that updates will be slowing down a tiny bit. These chapters were actually pre-written so I was able to update them every day, but updates will be slightly slower. I should still update multiple times a week so there's that. Also wanted to say thanks for all of the lovely comments and for reading my story. Feel free to let me know if you see anything that needs correcting or if you have any suggestions and I'll do my best!


	13. Chapter 13

It took virtually no time for the other hermits to meet in Cleo’s base. Doc was then able to see just how exhausted everyone looked. He noticed their unfocused eyes, wary voices, and the constant look of confusion they all seemed to have. Doc normally wasn’t one to simply worry, but this sight had him worried. As harsh and stoic as he may seem, he genuinely cared for his fellow hermits and was hoping that this whole situation would be over as soon as possible. In the best case scenario, everyone would mentally recover well and business would go on like usual.

“Alright, I trust that everyone made it alright.” Doc’s voice rose above the quiet mumblings in the room and he was painfully aware that everyone was not, in fact, in the room. He chose to ignore the slight feeling of guilt he got from not acknowledging his missing friends.

“I’m finally back on hermitcraft, but that’s not why I wanted you all to come here.” He turned around to grab and place the heads Cleo had collected in front of the hermits. 

“Do any of you know who these people are?” Doc’s question sounded more like interrogation, but the hermits looked at the faces anyway. To Doc’s disappointment, there wasn’t a single look of realization or familiarity. He sighed in exasperation and picked up a random head and held it above the others in plain view of the Hermits.

“Xisuma.” To his and the three he was originally with’s relief, looks of astonishment were immediately painted on the faces of all in attendance. 

“Good. Now that we’ve got that cleared up, let’s go over the others, shall we?” And one by one, Doc spoke the name of each hermit that wasn’t in attendance. The looks of confusion and guilt that were worn on each face was almost painful. As each of the hermits remembered their forgotten friends, the cloudiness in their minds was gradually cleared up. To say the scene was emotional was an understatement. Keralis was having a hard time accepting that he'd somehow forgotten his own neighbor. Xisuma had even built a great deal of the road that ran into the jungle. It was a very uncomfortable thought.

Bdubs had finally gathered why he'd been so disoriented every time he thought about the mayoral race. Ren had also had a big moment of realization as he slowly remembered his pesky neighbor and his supported candidate. Overall, realizing that you've forgotten people in your life that had mattered to you was a shock, and not everyone handled it gracefully. Even so, just like their friends who were trapped in the mystical jungle village, these hermits were resilient. The room was still filled with poorly masked emotion, but only minutes after everyone had remembered their friends, they all jumped into finding a solution with Doc taking the lead.

"Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, there's something else we've found. It's strange to say the least. It looks like the names of all these hermits," he gestured to the row of heads sitting in front of him.

"can only be said by me, Cleo, and Jevin. We don't know why only we can say their names, nor do we know why they specifically were forgotten, so if anyone has any ideas, then let's hear it." Doc's voice quieted and the room was silent. Seconds passed while each hermit was in deep thought before Cub raised his hand from the rightmost edge of the crowd. He wore a serious expression and Doc nodded at him, signaling him to speak.

"I apologise for not saying something sooner, but I was only able to sort my thoughts out completely just now. I've met up with…" his voice died for a second before he stepped into the crowd toward the row of faux hermit heads and picked up the one resembling Grian. He turned the head so that the crowd could see it.

"We called him Desire. We had a bunker behind my pyramid and we were trying to solve the issue. The thing is, until today, it was just Desire and Heart that were forgotten. We worked with some of the other jungle hermits and after some process of elimination, I figured out that this," Cub held up a Scar head.

"is who we called Heart. Heart was the only one of the two who couldn't leave wherever he was trapped, but Desire's actions were controlled by Heart." Cub continued giving a summary of his involvement, even with the small holes in his memory from that time. He was having some trouble since Stress, Xisuma, Iskall, Etho, and Mumbo hadn't gotten nicknames. He was at least grateful for the heads so he could hold them up. By the time he was finished, the sun had started to set and each hermit was both completely exhausted and wide awake.

"Okay. Well now we know what needs to be done. That being said, we need to try and get some rest." Doc said in an authoritative tone.

"What?" Tango objected.

"But, we should get them back as soon as possible! What if they're in trouble?" Tango was obviously worried and didn't do much to hide the feeling in his voice. Doc sighed frustratedly, but before he could speak, Jevin stepped forward and gave his two cents.

"Listen, we're all exhausted. If we keep going like this, we're going to miss something critical. We haven't been able to think clearly for days, and I think if we go rushing in while we're all functioning solely on adrenaline and beacon affects, we might cause more harm than good. I mean, the issue has already gotten worse, so who's to say it won't get completely out of our control?" He spoke in a calm tone which was probably more effective than Doc's original method of intimidation since all the hermits were still quite emotional.

"I agree." Joe said, matter-of-factly.

"We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves."

"Yeah, if we rush ahead while our vision is still blurry, then we'd doom ourselves. I don't know yet if we even need to fight, but we might. Even I've been having trouble dealing with the mobs at my base while I'm so unfocused." False spoke up from the middle of the crowd, the lack of sleep evident in the dark circles under her eyes. She'd obviously had trouble with the paranoia the memory loss brought.

Tango looked at the hermits for a moment before sighing in defeat, his own very uncharacteristic exhaustion suddenly evident. Doc wondered for a moment if he was similar to Impulse who could hide his exhaustion frighteningly well. Those two were often on their feet and moving, but never showed signs of tire. It was occasionally cause for concern when Impulse would sleep like the dead with no hope of awakening, but Tango hadn't been known to be like that. Perhaps he just had incredible stamina. Doc was broken out of his thoughts by Tango's shockingly tired voice.

"... You're right. We need to rest." Tango's eyes drifted to Impulse who was beside him. He was one of two people, including TFC, who hardly looked like they had any less energy than normal. Impulse gave Tango a small smile.

"That means you too, Impulse. If you end up sleeping the season away like Wels, you'll have failed us." Tango scolded in a teasing manner. A faint "hey!" Could be heard from Wels in the back of the crowd.

"Then it's settled." Cleo and Doc spoke at the same time.

"Go get some rest, everyone." Cleo said conclusively.

"And get back here bright and early tomorrow. We're going to get our friends back." Doc finished. The crowd of hermits nodded and travelled back to their own bases, groggy yet determined.

As the group went to sleep, the hermits trapped in the village had met up again with the intention of relieving some stress. Etho was finally starting to cool down as the night air brought along its usual chill. It was a good thing too since Grian and Scar were planning something that would probably need the other hermits to be up and ready to move. Both Grian and Scar had agreed as they were on their way to gather the others that Grian would do the talking since Scar didn't want to accidentally force someone to do something.

It hardly took three minutes for the others to gather, but the sun had just gone over the horizon, leaving the sky a smoky purple that only slightly revealed the stars. Scar had taken a lantern with him for convenience and to give the hermits a light to follow in the growing darkness. The group had all gathered at the bank, a weary silence over them all. Grian himself wasn't in the best of moods either after his episode, but he was determined to change that.

It was Scar who had suggested the idea and Grian knew that the challenge would be easier for some than others, but he considered that part of the fun. As his eyes scanned the slightly recovered, yet still weary eyes of his friends, he made sure to brighten his hidden expression and began to speak.

"Okay. Now that we've had the day to let all that tension stew, we've realized that we haven't really calmed down at all. So! We decided to propose a little game." All the hermits tilted their heads in curiosity, but nobody spoke up. They all noticed the mischievous glint in both Grian's and Scar's eyes though.

"We propose a starlight game of hide and seek. You don't need to participate, but I think it'd be good for us if we all pitched in. Who's in?" Iskall, Stress, and Etho immediately raised their hands, followed quickly by Xisuma and lastly Mumbo. Grian clapped his hands together, his feathered cuffs highlighting his hands, especially as the village grew darker.

"Perfect! Here's the rules: we're going to draw randomly to see who's 'it' and they'll give everyone one minute to hide. Once the minute is up, whoever is 'it' can start looking for the others. If you're hiding, you can move around and change position at any time, but once you've been spotted, you lose and come back to this," he gestured to the lantern Scar was holding as he set it on a rock.

"lantern. Everyone will submit an item in place of their name and when they're spotted, the person who's 'it' will call out the item belonging to the person they saw. Whoever is found last wins and will be the next person to be 'it'." Scar proceeded to plonk down a shulker box filled with a variety of spare, unusable items and scraps for the hermits to pick.

"Go ahead and select an item, and make sure you remember what everyone else's items are." The group shuffled forward and started rummaging through the shulker. As they all grabbed for an item they thought would be easily connected to them, they couldn't help but wonder why Scar had so many seemingly random items haphazardly tossed in the box. Nobody commented on it though, as they recalled Scar's chest monster problem.

Soon enough, everyone had an item that would temporarily act as their name. Xisuma had grabbed a glass bottle that only had a thin layer of honey at the bottom and had solidified for whatever reason, Stress had found a magenta wool slab that she didn't even know how Scar managed to obtain, Iskall had grabbed a slime ball that couldn't hold its shape and was therefore contained in a bucket, Scar grabbed a glass block that was somehow only half-stained red, Etho managed to find a wither rose with only one petal and no thorns, Grian grabbed the only purple prismarine shard he'd ever seen, and Mumbo had found a redstone torch that was, for some reason, cut in half. Lengthwise. 

Needless to say, the hermits were more than a little curious as to both why and how Scar had managed to obtain these obscure, but definitely unusable items.

"Okay dude, I wasn't going to say anything at first, but seriously. Why do you have these things?" Iskall muttered, swishing around his bucket of slime.

"Ditto. How did you even do this?" Stress questioned while she held up her wool slab and leaned in closer to see the tarnished torch mumbo was holding.

"Y-yeah. I thought it was going to be normal stuff that you just had sitting around, but you weren't kidding when you said it was stuff you couldn't use. I mean look! This thing is bright purple!" Grian exclaimed while he held his prismarine shard to the lantern light.

"I don't know! I just get them and I ended up collecting them." Scar said, slightly embarrassed.

"I didn't even know honey could do this. I knew it could crystalize, but this just looks like straight up amber." Xisuma remarked, almost impressed and glancing over to Etho's withered wither rose and Scar's glass that was probably meant to become a magic crystal at some point.

"Okay okay, enough with the comments already! Let's just start the game." Scar said, a small whine in his voice. There was zero hesitation as not another word was said and the hermits placed their items in the provided dropper. Scar only realized why they had complied so quickly when all the items were placed in the dropper.

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry! You guys can talk about whatever and take your time." Scar exclaimed, feeling a twinge of guilt.

"It's alright, the circumstances aren't the best. Kinda hard to deal with in my opinion." Mumbo offered, noticing the guilt. 

"Alright, so just to make sure we've got everyone's items, we've got rose, honey, glass, slime, wool, torch, and prismarine." Grian said as he pointed to each respective hermit. He got several nods of affirmation and proceeded to whirl around and point to Scar who was next to the activating lever.

"Pull the lever, Heart!" And Scar flicked the lever, happy to see a magenta wool slab pop out of the dropper. Stress hopped up, thankfully eager to get the game started.

"Alright lovelies, ready?" After getting a unanimous nod, she closed her eyes and started counting. The hermits immediately raced off in different directions into the night, some more quietly than others. The game was on. Stress was listening to the loudest of the hermits as they all scampered off. The most prominent were Mumbo and Iskall. She could hear the jingle of metal and the rattle of wooden beads. 

Her ears traced the two sounds as they went in two similar directions. She could hear Iskall's noise fading faster and faster and eventually, she was barely able to hear him running anymore. She focused on the much louder jingle of Mumbo's footsteps and made a mental note to head in that direction. She knew that he'd be the easiest to find since his movement would be loud and the redstone bits on what he was wearing would give a faint and easy to spot glow in the dark of the night. She couldn't hear anything anymore and was nearing the end of her count.

When she finished, she opened her eyes and the shadowy expanse of Scar's village was again in her vision, the entire place looking very different from how it usually looked in the day time. Small magical specks of light danced around the place, as if thousands of tiny multicolored fireflies had visited the overgrown civilization. Stress took a moment to bask in the mysticality of the village. She made a mental note to visit more places at night. After all, if the village looked this incredible without her even knowing, then who knows what other builds and bases would be transformed under the moonlight.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and snap herself out of the sense of awe. What mattered right now was that in the village, her friends were hiding and she had a mission to find them. She raced off in the direction she had noted earlier, completely forgetting about her lack of shoes and focusing only on the game.

It wasn't long before she spotted a small glint of silver and she rushed towards it as quickly and quietly as she could. To her surprise, however, it wasn't Mumbo's silvery adornments that she'd spotted, but rather a mask that appeared to be floating in the shadows behind some bushes. It was obvious that its wearer had neither heard nor seen Stress coming and by the time they did see her, it was already too late.

"Rose!" Stress shouted, the excitement in her voice startling Etho who was slightly crouched behind his bush, as if he'd been looking at something before Stress found him.

"Aw, darnit. I was caught off guard." Etho now stood straight up, his mismatched eyes now looking directly into Stress's own brown ones.

"What happened? I thought you'd be the last one left since you've got your shadowy outfit goin' on." Stress questioned. Etho gave her a dry chuckle.

"Yeah, someone ran by and took my hiding spot. I won't tell you who or name any names though. I'll let Torch think he's won." Etho said while he walked off in the direction of the lantern, a mischievous smirk plastered on his face which Stress wasn't able to see but she knew it was there nonetheless.

Disregarding Etho's loss, she turned her attention in front of her. Supposedly, Mumbo was still around here and moving around would be too difficult since he'd make so much noise. Stress opted to keep moving forward and look for the glint of metal. 

As she moved silently through the jungle, she realized just how much quieter her footsteps were without shoes and was thankful that she was barefoot for the first time since the outfit change. She kept looking around her and she heard a twig snap behind her. She whirled around and was able to see the heel of Xisuma's furlike boot disappear behind a wall and she chased after it, quickly spotting the bright black and yellow of his clothing.

"Honey!" Xisuma halted in his tracks and gave a light-hearted groan.

"Aw, come on. I guess I shouldn't have taken that risk, huh?" He chuckled at his own little derp and moved back in the direction of the lantern. Stress pumped her fists and had a small celebration before refocusing her attention. She was now near the back of the village and started looking through bushes and barrels alike. She'd managed to find Scar tucked away amidst a pile of purple shulker boxes which made him slightly harder to spot and Grian had somehow squeezed himself into a tiny one-block space inside of one of Scar's artificially built insects, wings and all. Grian had actually gotten stuck and Stress had to help him get out, much to her dismay. She thought she'd spotted Mumbo several times when she followed a faint red glow, but it turned out to only be stray bits of redstone.

Ironically, Iskall and Mumbo were the last two to be found, even though those two were who she'd been able to hear run off at the beginning. As she stalked through the village, she realized that she'd neglected to look behind the windmill and made her way over. Before she could reach the windmill, however, a small, red, glow could be seen from behind one of the pumpkins. She sprinted her way over, thinking she'd finally spotted Mumbo who was her first target, but who was actually there surprised her. She called out the name regardless.

"Slime?" The rattle of beads could be heard as Iskall turned his head to look at Stress, a disappointed look on his face.

"How did you find me? You were going toward the windmill, right? I didn't even make any noise." He seemed confused, and rightfully so. He hadn't seen the red glow.

"I saw some redstone here so I thought it was… Torch…" Stress explained, fumbling with Mumbo's alias. Iskall got up to give the pumpkin he was hiding behind a once-over and sure enough, behind him where he'd been crouching was a tiny bit of redstone glowing faintly in the night.

"Wait, so, he wins!?" Iskall exclaimed, not quite believing that Mumbo had bested him.

"I win!" Mumbo's shout was coupled with the jungle of metal and he came barreling out from behind the windmill, his eyes smiling through his mask.

"How? I could hear you from a mile away!" Stress exclaimed, just as bewildered as Iskall.

"Exactly. I was here the whole time. I just tried to put some redstone bits in places where I thought someone might hide so that you'd find them quicker. I thought it was a half-decent idea." Mumbo said, obviously proud of his solution to his own disadvantage. Iskall shook his head, amazed.

"Well, whatever. You won so I guess it's your turn to do the seeking." The other hermits were just as surprised to find out who won, and Grian was very insistent on teasing Mumbo about how everyone was surprised. 

The game continued on through the night and as they all did their best to focus on the game, genuine laughs could be heard ringing true throughout the village. They would all later agree that the game was very much needed since it had been too many days since they'd felt relaxed like that. It took eight games before Xisuma requested that they rest and Stress spoke up in reply.

"I agree, but I want to see something." The group looked at her and the looks of curiosity were edging her to continue with her request.

"Can we climb a tree to see if we can spot some other builds? The village looks so different at night so I figured looking at other places would be neat." The idea gained the favor of the hermits and Grian flew around to find a suitable tree. He came back and had determined that one of Scar's treehouses would be best. They all climbed their way up and looked out over the tops of the jungle trees. 

Before they could take in the actual view of the surrounding structures, they were taken aback by the starry sky. It was rare that they ever stopped to see the night sky in this new world, but now that they were taking the time to sit and view it, the sight was breathtaking. Their eyes were lost in the ocean of stars and the dancing lights around them only added to the enchanting landscape. They'd seen that sky so many times since they'd arrived, but looking at it from where they were, it was like they were looking at a place completely different that was gently swaying on the line that separated reality from fantasy.

It took quite a bit of time before anyone could tear their eyes away from the sky, but when they did, their eyes landed on the giant tree belonging to Iskall. It was unfinished still, but that somehow added to whatever story the tree seemed to tell. It was grand and natural and young, like it had seen much and still had much to see. Stress's colorful base seemed to hold a similar magic to Scar's village, but each color looked like it was glowing with innocent vibrance that stood out against the night. Still in the jungle, Mumbo's base stood there, tall and imposing as ever. It did look different though. The ruined texture made it look less like an old piece of history, and more like the last remains of a fallen civilization. It had a solemn air about it, like something great had vanished in the span of a day. Finally, on the outskirts of the jungle was Grian's mansion. It looked luxurious yet cold in the daytime, but now, the luxury aspect had disappeared. The hermits' legs were dangling off of the wooden platforms, but some brought their legs in as a chill ran up their spine. Had they kept looking at the mansion, perhaps one would have sworn they spotted a spectre hovering in one of the windows.

Even with the somewhat emotion-inducing scene, the group of jungle hermits were relaxed, and some took the opportunity to doze off. The night was peaceful and the scenery had let them momentarily forget the masks they wore and the invisible barrier surrounding them. At that moment, everything was alright.

Until reality had come back to haunt them.

_See? The jungle was right. The jungle's magic is what makes everyone happy. The wizard and his familiars only need the jungle. Nothing else._

It was like a nightmare. It had come back, and now that all the hermits there could feel the voice, the sense of dread was mutual. They were all frozen in fear as the voice continued and sent shivers through the souls of them all, snapping them wide awake and fearful of what was to come.

_The jungle will not let go. The jungle is kind. The jungle knows that the familiars shouldn't leave. The jungle is finally back to give gifts to its familiars. The jungle will lead my wizard and my familiars. The jungle will never let go._

_The jungle will take care of you, whether you want it to or not._


	14. Chapter 14

Ren had done exactly what he was told to do, but his mind was restless. He'd flown all the way back to his base and fallen asleep for maybe two hours before waking up again. He was normally a restless sleeper so despite the severity of the recent events, it didn't affect him as much as many of the other hermits. He was used to it. Under normal circumstances, he'd probably just go back to sleep, but his mind wouldn't let him.

Instead, he rose out of his bed and stepped out of his home to take in the view surrounding him. His valley was very hot during the day, but the nights were often frigid. He could already feel the cold air seeping into him and decided to walk along the edge of the jungle rather than continue through the middle of the mesa. Even with the warmer air though, he didn't go in the jungle. He'd heard Cub's telling of the biome's curse during the meeting and looking at the thick foliage now only gave him more chills than the cold night air did.

As Ren aimlessly walked along the line of trees, he realized that the ground under his feet had changed from terracotta to stone. He looked up to see the imposing grand mansion that belonged to Grian. He'd already seen plenty of the giant build, but seeing it at night was completely different. Looking at it made his bones chill and the whole thing looked cold and abandoned. What made it worse was that Ren knew Grian hadn't been in the mansion in days. Even though the lanterns each gave off a yellow glow, the light didn't look nearly as warm as it should. The sight was cold, dreary, unusual, chilling, uncharacteristic, and most of all, lonely. 

Despite the distant appearance the mansion gave, Ren found himself drawn to it. His feet seemed to move on their own as he stepped inside the grand build. The halls seemed to have the light sucked out of them as well, and the glowstone that Ren knew was there felt almost completely absent if not for his ability to still see and the absence of mobs. He recalled helping Grian build the trading hall, and the villagers inside it were currently tucked away for the night, leaving the grand room devoid of life. As his eyes scanned the room, he saw something white flash in the corner of his eye and turned his head to face it. There was a staircase there that Ren couldn't recall being built and led up towards the upper levels of the mansion.

Without really thinking, he made his way to the staircase and climbed to the top, only to see a long hallway expand out in front of him. At this point, he knew something was off. Ren knew that Grian had been putting off building the back of the mansion, much less the entire inside of it. 

"This... is really weird. I think I'm gonna head back…" Ren spoke out loud to break the eerie silence and his voice seemed to echo across a larger space than the long, carpeted hallway he was in. He paid no mind to the strange occurrence and turned to go back the way he came, only to be faced with solid stone. His exit was now gone. Ren stepped back a bit, now starting to panic slightly.

"A-all right my dudes, this isn't funny. I know some prankage may seem like a good way to lighten the mood, but this isn't the way to do it." He called into the darkness, now painfully aware of how his voice didn't sound like it was inside a furnished hallway, but rather an empty cave. His eyes were searching for some kind of escape and he turned back around, only for him to see something white directly in front of him and covering his vision that had not been there before. He shouted in surprise and backed up into the wall, suddenly regretting not bringing anything with him.

His breathing was heavy and his eyes had snapped shut, waiting for whatever was there to do its worst, knowing full well he'd respawn safe and sound back at his base. When nothing happened, he slowly opened his eyes to see what was there, preparing himself for the worst.

It was a llama. Ren let out the breath he'd been holding and gave a relieved chuckle. He felt somewhat silly now for getting so worked up over something like a llama. The animal looked straight at him, unmoving. It was completely white and held its stare at Ren's slightly shorter form. Ren stood up straight from his place against the stone wall and stepped towards the creature.

"Hey there, how'd you get in here, huh?" Ren chuckled and reached out to pet the creature's cloudlike fuzz.

"I guess we're both stuck here." He mumbled more to himself. His hand went to stroke the llama, but as soon as he could feel the soft texture, his vision was completely consumed by darkness and he felt as if he no longer had a body. Ren had no idea what was happening, but before he could start to process it, a voice echoed through him in a way he'd never felt before.

_Greetings. I apologise for the very rude intrusion, but it has come to my attention that you and your dear friends have been put in a very unfortunate situation. As much as I would like to leave you all be, I have determined that you might need some assistance. I will allow you to speak in this dreamscape, as I imagine you have several questions._

When the voice had stopped, Ren could suddenly feel himself again and realized that he'd regained his own body, but he was unable to detect any sensation other than air. Not even gravity was felt. He spoke nonetheless.

"Who are you?"

_I have a name, however you may find it difficult to pronounce, so I shall give you my title instead. You may call me Mountain._

"Alright, Mountain. What is going on?"

_It will take quite a bit of explanation. Are you prepared for that?_

"...Yeah."

_Very well then. As you may have gathered from my title, I and many others like me are very closely tied to the things in your world you call biomes. In simple terms, we are like manifestations of these biomes. We usually quite enjoy watching from the sidelines as beings like yourself build, create, and go about your lives. However, it appears that one of our own has gone rogue. They are definitely on the wild side, but interfering as they have is against our own laws. I have gained favor from others so that I may assist you in your quest to gain your friends' freedom._

"O...kay… are you talking about the Jungle that Cub mentioned?"

_Indeed._

"Alright… but wait, if you all know each other, why can't you just go over and tell them to stop?"

_We cannot interact with one another so long as this world is still physically manifested. There was a point in time when we could freely interact, but once this world came into being, we were separated for the seventh time._

"You guys have been here from the start?"

_Correct_

"Oh…" Ren thought about the implications of this new knowledge before stopping himself. There was something bigger at stake that needed his attention.

"Alright, you said before that you'd help us out. What did you have in mind?"

_I will grant you the gift of sight. This will assist you with your communications. I trust that another one of my kind will grant another of your friends the gift of knowledge, and another the gift of influence. We prepare for these things. When one must go entire years without speaking to the rest of their own kind, rules and agreements are put into place. Jungle has acted out before, so we decided to be more prepared. We care about all of you, but sometimes we falter. I ask your forgiveness on behalf of the others. We are guardians, not captors._

"Thanks, and while I appreciate the apology, I don't think I'm the one who should be apologized to." 

_I understand. Are you ready to leave, or do you have more questions?_

Ren thought for a moment before answering.

"Nah, I think I'm good. I appreciate the help." 

_Our pleasure._

Ren felt a sensation run through him, almost stinging his nerves. He realized that it was the coldness of the mountains. He opened his eyes and sat up from where he'd apparently been laying. The hallway he remembered was gone and in its place was a massive expanse of empty room, surrounded by the partially finished walls of Grian's mansion.

"What on earth…" Ren mumbled to himself, ignoring the puffs of fog his breath produced. His stupor was interrupted by the hiss of a spider and Ren scrambled up to hurry out of the space. As he made his way back to his much warmer house, he noticed something different about the scenery and turned to face it.

In the middle of the jungle, there was a brightly glowing barrier that rose from the ground upwards, surrounding a familiar sight. A wide smile spread to Ren's face as he was finally able to see the upper bits of Scar's village. Giddy as ever, Ren sprinted all the way back to his base and eagerly prepared himself for the news he'd bring the hermits at sunrise.

He wasn't the only one who'd have news to tell from that night either. Cub was having similar troubles sleeping, though they weren't nearly as regular as Ren's restless nights. Frustrated and tired, he rose from his bed to look out at the desert sands.

The sight of the moonlight reflected on the desert was a calming sight. Cub had decided that he'd stay near his pyramid since the desert nights were often as harsh as the days. As he leaned on one of the vertical sandstone walls, his gaze spotted something move among the stillness. Normally, all the animals that roamed the desert would be out near villages or water sources, or if not that, hidden away where predators wouldn't find them. But there in front of Cub in the middle of a wide sandy expanse was a single rabbit. 

The rabbit was unique in that rather than constantly bouncing about like he'd seen most rabbits do, it stood still apart from the occasional twitch of the ear. It was also larger than most of the rabbits he'd seen, but not big enough to be considered strange. Cub stood for quite a while, his eyes meeting the rabbit's and neither's gaze faltering. After several minutes of this staring showdown, Cub was caught off guard when the rabbit bounded up to him faster than he could react. In no time at all, the rabbit had leaped up to him and barreled right into his chest. Normally, he wouldn't have faltered at such a small creature, but for a reason unbeknownst to him, his vision had immediately dissipated, leaving his mind in a sensationless void. Inwardly, he was panicking, but he lacked the means to express the emotion. He could feel the seconds tick by, but after some time, Cub began to feel his body form, starting with his head and ending with his limbs. He could feel his body, but he couldn't feel anything else. It was strange to say the least.

Without warning, a voice boomed through him in a strange way, not quite hearing, but not physically feeling the vibration either, like the voice was only in his own head.

_PHARAOH._

The power of the voice made Cub cringe, but the voice continued.

_PHARAOH REQUIRES HELP. DESERT WILL ASSIST._

"...o-ow. Wait, assist how?" Cub asked the voice, confusedly. He was tired and disoriented and looking for any answers he could get. He'd worry about his location and physical state once at least something had been cleared up. The voice continued speaking, however, as if Cub hadn't even said anything.

_JUNGLE HAS BROKEN MORAL CODE. DESERT CANNOT SPEAK TO JUNGLE. PHARAOH MUST REPRIMAND JUNGLE IN DESERT'S PLACE. JUNGLE SHOULD NOT HAVE INTERFERED. NOW DESERT MUST INTERFERE. DESERT WILL GIFT THE PHARAOH KNOWLEDGE. MOUNTAIN AND OCEAN WILL TAKE CARE OF THE REST._

"Oh… okay…" Cub had to recover somewhat from the booming voice and his tone was wary.

"But, how am I supposed to-" he was cut off by the voice again, but it seemed even louder. It gave a guttural noise that if it had been quieter, Cub may have equated to a boisterous laugh.

_HAHAHAHAHA, PHARAOH WORRIES TOO MUCH! DESERT WILL ENSURE HERMITS' VICTORY! NOW PHARAOH MUST REST._

And just like that, Cub was plunged into a dreamless sleep without so much as a second to spare. His last thought was wondering what exactly he spoke to, and what on earth did it mean by all that?

Cub would later be found sleeping on the sand outside his base by Impulse. Ironically, Impulse would normally be the one passed out on the floor of his base, so carrying Cub to his bed was definitely a change of pace. He'd been getting more rest than normal since he'd hit a mental block in terms of creativity which the cause for was now known. So, interestingly enough, Impulse had been awake for the night to see Jevin flying at him, dripping wet and fumbling for words. Now, the reason that Impulse was at Cub's base then was actually because he'd been asked by Jevin only minutes prior to make sure Cub got to bed. He'd thought it was a strange request at first until Jevin detailed his recent experience.

It turns out that like Cub and Ren, he'd been confronted by a creature, but his experience was wildly different. He'd been splashed by a very loud dolphin that wouldn't let him sleep and saw sent plunging into the salty water, his consciousness leaving him. The voice he felt spoke in single whispered words, and rather than telling him what was going on, the voice, later deemed Ocean, showed him visions of what both Cub and Ren went through. Eventually, the vision showed Impulse's base, and the voice lemented to Jevin four separate words:

_Gift._

_Influence._

_Impulse._

_Unreachable._

Jevin's contact with the voice ended there and he woke up floating on the ocean surface before rushing over to Impulse's base to relay the story. Impulse would then visit the dolphin that Jevin had met and in the blink of an eye, Impulse had received the gift that the Ocean had wanted to give him. "The gift of influence" was what Jevin had called it, somehow able to interpret the one-word sentences spoken to him. It was then that Jevin requested Impulse go and make sure Cub was okay after the vision he'd seen which led to Impulse laying Cub in his bed and flying back to his base soon after, suddenly more tired than he'd been when the night started.

The three gifts had been distributed, all to the premeditated plan of the entities. Thankfully, most of the entities were on the hermits' side, save for the one that had gone rogue from loneliness. Jungle acting out had been foreseen by its own kind, and the measures to stop it from doing too much damage had been taken. It was a good thing too, since the hermits that Jungle was holding captive had been put in a situation that would take all the strength they had to power through. As the three gifts were all given, even more freedom had been stripped away from those held captive. Still hours before the sun rose, they were being held hostage in their own minds, waiting for rescue.


	15. Chapter 15

The morning brought many things, and news from Cub, Ren, Impulse, and Jevin were what had taken priority. Impulse had arrived somewhat late since he had overslept due to the night's events and Cub showed up looking better than the previous day, yet still somewhat disheveled for whatever reason. Ren was giddy and hardly looked tired at all and he eagerly mentioned his encounter in Grian's mansion.

"You heard a voice too? Man, I don't know how you're so enthusiastic, that voice was practically painful. How'd you deal with it so well?" Cub asked Ren with a look of mild discomfort as he remembered the booming voice of Desert.

"Waddya mean, man? The voice I heard was actually pretty okay. I mean, it was a little creepy, but it wasn't painful." Ren explained, confused.

"Yeah, and Ocean only said a few quiet words. I was able to see what you guys were up to because of Ocean, and sorry Cub, but Desert was the only one that talked like that." Jevin offered, earning a chuckle from Impulse who was beside him and a sigh of annoyance from Cub.

"So I was the only one who had to deal with that, huh? I swear, if that voice wasn't in my head, I would've gone deaf." Cub muttered, slightly annoyed. Even so, he took the opportunity to launch into his own explanation of last night's events, followed closely by Jevin who detailed the instruction to get Impulse to meet Ocean, and Impulse's story was what finished the debriefing. He mentioned how he hadn't actually heard Ocean's voice, and it was Jevin who'd done all the interpreting.

"I wonder why the biomes were so particular about who got those gifts you guys mentioned." False questioned to the whole crowd.

"Ren mentioned that they had planned this in advance, so perhaps they chose based on our own abilities." Doc spoke up from his makeshift pedestal which was just a spruce slab that he stood on to increase his already imposing height. Cleo stood beside him, carefully eyeing the crowd of hermits and noting to herself who looked the most and least alert, just in case the situation called for that knowledge.

"Either way, it doesn't really matter, right? The gifts are already given but we still don't know what they do." Tango interjected.

"I think I can help with that." Ren spoke up. All heads turned to him and he wasted no time explaining.

"After I woke up on the floor of that mansion, I started to head back to my own base, but I saw something in the jungle that wasn't there before. It was a giant glowing barrier and I could see the village through it. Since I can see the jungle pretty well from my base, I was able to have a good view of what builds were there. For the few days we lost our memory, I'm pretty sure that nobody could see that place, but now I can. Mountain said I'd been given the gift of sight, so maybe that's what it meant."

"Okay…" Joe spoke up for the first time in a while.

"...but that still doesn't tell us much. 'Sight', taken literally, is easy to determine the effect of, but 'knowledge' isn't as obvious. Knowledge of what? The Jungle? And 'influence' is even worse. We all have some kind of influence, so what would this gift even do?" Joe asked the questions and was answered with an expanse of silence. His gaze scanned the crowd, but just as he was about to change the subject, he heard a gasp from the back of the group. Everyone turned their heads toward the person who'd broken the silence. Beef, who hadn't spoken to anyone at all since the start of the whole fiasco, was wide-eyed and obviously had something to say, as if he'd just had some huge breakthrough.

"Guys. Guys, I get it!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"What the gifts do?" Keralis questioned. Beef shook his head.

"No, no. Well, yes but- uh, it's complicated. Here I'll explain. So Doc, Jevin, and Cleo are the only ones that can say the names of the jungle hermits, right?" He got a few nods of affirmation and continued.

"It's because they're not human. And not just that, they're mobs. Sentient ones, but still mobs. I'll bet the biomes can't actually mess with mobs. Why that is, I have no idea, but that would explain why they can remember better than the rest of us could, and it would explain why Ocean couldn't give Jevin the gift, since he's a slime." Looks of realization swept through the crowd, but Beef still continued.

"Also, Cub." He addressed the gold-clad hermit.

"Yeah?"

"You said there was a bunker with pages of enchantments, right?" Cub nodded without a word.

"And none of us can read those enchantments, right?" Again, Cub nodded.

"Yeah, we tried to see if… Heart… could translate it since he's apparently a favorite of Jungle." Cub said.

"Exactly, but since, Desire, was it? Can't be out here for whatever reason, we can't communicate with the jungle hermits. So… the biomes gave us gifts to help out. Ren can see the village and probably the hermits too, but we already know that. As for Cub, you have the gift of knowledge. That could mean a few things. Either you can tell us critical facts about Jungle and its limitations, or!" He paused and faced the rest of the hermits.

"It could mean Cub can translate for us! That's knowledge, right? Knowing how to read all those crazy enchantments?" Beef was obviously excited at his realization.

"Okay, but that still leaves Impulse's gift if influence. What could that be? Joe said it well, it's probably the most vague of the three." Zedaph quipped. Beef smiled though and proceeded to explain his thinking.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that since it was mentioned. And honestly, I think it has something to do with something we could influence before, but not now for whatever reason. This world is ours, right? We literally have all the influence in the world, so why would we need to be gifted some?" Beef's tone morphed into a thoughtful one as it became obvious that he hadn't actually gotten that far.

"Oh! I know!" Tango piped up.

"We may have had all the influence in the world but we don't anymore, purely because of exactly who was imprisoned. Sure we lost our friends, but I think the reason the rest of the jungle hermits were trapped in the village even though they lived in separate jungles was because one of the hermits that lives far away from the village where they all are is…" Tango let his voice trail as if he was expecting someone to catch on to his thought. And sure enough, Cleo's eyes widened and she spoke up.

"Our admin! We don't have any control over commands without our admin!" Once she'd said that, Tango dramatically pointed at her and spoke again.

"Exactly! So, if our admin can't do anything, then it would make sense that the gift of influence gives someone limited access to commands!" Tango looked to his friends for input and opinions, and as the hermits considered it, they all nodded their heads and spoke quietly about it, and one by one, they came to agree that that had to be what the gifts were. Doc cleared his throat to quiet the chatter and spoke out authoritatively.

"Alright. We'll count on that being right for now. We need a plan. Cub, you take any free hermits with you to look for that page of enchantments. I know you said that it was already taken to the village when you last saw it, but on the off chance it's with the other records, we need as many people looking for it as possible. Impulse and Jevin, you two need to stay near Cub so that Impulse can take action as soon as there's progress. And Ren, I need you to take False with you to that village and find some way to communicate with the hermits there. If we can get a clue for where that page is, then we'll be that much closer to freeing them. Does everyone understand?" Doc asked the crowd. Many solemn and determined nods were given and Doc crossed his arms.

"Good. And Ren?" Said hermit raised his brow and the two made eye contact. Anyone who was there would testify to seeing what was the most harsh, intimidating, and commanding look that had ever been seen on hermitcraft grace Doc's expression.

"Make sure our friends are okay." Ren only nodded at the command, vowing inwardly that he'd see to their safety.

"Disperse." And with that last statement, every hermit there scattered in strategic directions, hope lighting fires under them.

Ren and False were the most nervous of the hermits as they had been given the task of going straight to the village. They decided to simply fly in the overworld instead of taking a portal so that they had time to talk about the plan.

"So how are we going to do this? We can't look suspicious since Cub said we would probably be watched by that… thing." False spoke over the sound of the wind rushing by. Ren had finally settled down from his burst of excitement and the reality of his task had set in.

"Well, maybe we should act like we're getting resources. Although since I can see the village, it might be better if I act like I'm harvesting vines or something like that since I'll be able to see the village better from the treetops. You'll look less suspicious if you're the one to actually go in the village since you can't see all the buildings so you should be the one to go down there if we need to." Ren offered. He had seen the village from afar, but the idea of going inside where this "Jungle" was made him very nervous for what might happen. Truthfully, he didn't even want to go inside the jungle in the first place. Even so, he knew he had to do it. His friends were counting on him and False to do this right.

"That's a good point. We should act like we're trying to tame parrots since that would explain why we're spending a lot of time in one area. That could also explain why one of us is on the ground while the other is on the treetops." False spoke in return. She was actually just as nervous as Ren after finding out what this thing could actually do, but she was fairly used to putting her fears aside for the sake of progress. Whether it be in a fight or gathering information, she was one of the best at keeping her wits about her, even if she was scared.

"That's even better! We should get a bunch of seeds first though, in case we actually find parrots. I hear those pesky birds can eat like you would not believe!" Ren joked in an attempt to lessen his own fears. False let out a chuckle and agreed. The two made a quick stop in some fields and forests to gather what ended up being a total of three stacks of seeds along with what they had in their inventory. It went much quicker with the two of them both gathering seeds and they were back in the sky in no time. 

When they reached the edge of the jungle, Ren pointed out the barrier.

"Right there. I can see the weird glowing forcefield around the village." False looked where he was pointing as they landed on top of Grian's mansion to have a good view. She stared at the mess of trees before shaking her head.

"Nope, sorry. No barrier and no village. I guess we'll go with the original plan, right?" False lamented. She did remember what the village looked like and had seen it a few times, admittedly slightly envious of Scar's building ability. Not seeing the village there left a pang in her heart. She missed her friends.

"Yeah. I'll let you know when we can get out of here or if we need to regroup. Discreetly of course." Ren said. The two also agreed to keep a light conversation going, but False wouldn't push the conversation if Ren stopped responding since he was probably listening to the invisible hermits. They flew in and began scanning the area.

False was immediately set off and could tell where the barrier was even though she couldn't see it. The whole jungle went silent and she could feel several pairs of unseen eyes on her. It sent shivers up her spine, but she kept her expertly trained poker face and whistled like she was calling for parrots. 

Ren, meanwhile, had landed on one of Scar's trees and looked around the village. He could see them. He could see all of them, but something was obviously off. He'd been warned by Cub that Grian was wearing some very… interesting… feathered garbs so he wasn't too surprised when he saw all of his missing friends were in similar states. He could recognize them easily even with the masks covering their heads and faces. What really made him worry was how they were acting. False was down on the forest floor whistling for birds, and Ren was suddenly glad they had split up like they did. She was distracting them while Ren had a flabbergasted look on his face that was beyond suspicious.

They all stood around her in a wide circle that spanned the village perimeter, staring with blank eyes. The group was unmoving and Ren noticed the red parrot perched on Grian's shoulder. They all looked like they were in some sort of trance, except for Scar who was curled up with his head in his knees, trapped inside a hollowed out crystal in the middle of his village. It made Ren's heart ache to see Scar trapped like that, unable to talk to anyone or move from that tiny space. Eventually though, all the masked hermits started to move around and ignore False, but their motions were rigid and forced. 

Ren forced himself to stop staring and acted like he was looking for parrots as well, but he didn't call for them like False since he wasn't sure if he could handle being knowingly stared at like False had been. He kept looking at them from the corner of his eye though. They all seemed to be talking among each other and some were harvesting crops or even playing small games. But Ren could tell that none of it was done genuinely or with a clear mind. Their voices almost sounded like mockeries of their normal, light tones. The laughter held absolutely no joy and the games they played didn't look entertaining, nor did the hermits look entertained. Sure, Ren saw his friends there in the flesh, but as they kept doing all those seemingly pointless and tedious activities, Ren found it harder to see them as the same people. It was all bland and forced and so horrifyingly unnatural.

Ren's stomach twisted and in that moment, a thought struck him like a brick to the skull.

What if that's how his friends would stay forever? Stiff, neutral, forced, expressionless, joyless, unrecognizable, brainwashed,

mindless,

gone.

The height of the tree he was in suddenly gave him goosebumps and his breath felt cold despite the warm, thick air of the jungle. 

Gone.

Ren started to quiver and he couldn't focus on the scene in front of him.

His friends are gone.

He gripped the branches so hard he could feel a small piece of bark dig into his palm.

His beloved friends are gone. Their empathy and laughs and voices and emotions. Their tears and support and creativity, all gone. He couldn't see any of it in their eyes or their actions. He couldn't hear any of it in their tones or their words.

Everything was gone.

"... should drop off these two. Come on." A light voice sounded nearby over Ren's jumbled thoughts and he felt himself being pulled along as his elytra carried him through the air and his arm was held firmly by the person guiding him. He couldn't tell how long he was in the air, but he recognized the feeling of stone beneath his feet when he touched down. His brain wouldn't clear up and he was reminded of how foggy it was when he'd forgotten his friends.

The friends he lost. His heart was overcome with sudden grief. He would later wonder why he felt the need to grieve over his alive friends, but in that moment, all he could think of was the valuable personalities of his friends that he'd lost. He thought he'd never get them back. It was as if they'd died and wouldn't come back like they always had, and his heart ached as the blank stares were burned into his mind.

He was so caught up in the horrifying thought that it took him a while to hear the smooth whistling that echoed next to him and to notice the warm fuzz that had curled up in his lap. He focused on the tune that sounded vaguely familiar and softly wrapped his arms around the fuzz in his lap. It took some time, but he was eventually able to recognize where he was. He was next to False on the upper outside steps of Grian's mansion. Two grey parrots were perched on False's shoulders and a blue one was sitting on her outstretched hand. The bird had been the one whistling the tune, and Ren could vaguely remember hearing the occasional chorus of whistles echoing from the jungle, led by Grian and his many, many birds. The fuzz that had settled in Ren's lap was a grey and white cat that was currently looking up at Ren affectionately, and he could recognize the soft gaze that she gave him and remembered that gaze often being directed at Scar.

"Ren?" False spoke up, a look of worry still on her face.

"Just take your time. We have all the time we need, okay? Just breathe." She spoke softly and Ren could feel the purr of the cat on his lap. He took a few shaky breaths and tried to hum along to the song the blue bird was singing. He only stopped when his voice had finally evened out and he could think clearly again. There was a beat of silence as the bird stopped whistling as well and False spoke up.

"You okay?" Ren sighed.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." More silence.

"What did you see?" At False's question, Ren slightly tightened his hug on the cat so that she was snuggled up to his chest.

"... They weren't themselves. They were all doing 'normal' things, but… it didn't seem like them. Like everything we know and love them for is just… not there." Ren's voice cracked and False nodded her head, telling Ren that she didn't need to hear more. She quickly came up with a way to reassure Ren.

"...Well, we had our memories erased, right?" False questioned, earning a nod from Ren.

"And we got those memories back, right?" Another nod.

"Then whatever they all lost can probably be returned. We just need to undo what's been done. They're not gone, Ren. I promise." Another promise for another hope. Ren was thankful for it.

"Also, we got two more helpers." False piped up, more cheerfully.

"What do you mean?" Ren cocked his head. She gestured to the bird and cat.

"Jellie and Prof. Beak have joined us. Apparently Prof. Beak can write? He explained in a book that the hermits inside the barrier can't see them anymore. They've offered to help though." False sounded hopeful, but she was mostly hoping that Ren would gain his pep back. The moment was interrupted, however, by a most unexpected voice.

"Indeed. I can talk as well but apparently it makes people uncomfortable so I prefer to write." Both False and Ren stared with wide eyes and mouths agape at the blue parrot who had just spoken out loud.

"You… can talk?" Ren eventually stuttered out.

"Yes. Grian, however, has informed me that doing so is startling and I should only talk around him. But, this is an emergency so I've decided to ignore that command." The two hermits were completely flabbergasted. Even False who'd apparently already seen the bird write.

"... So that's why he gave you that name…" False mumbled. Ren noticed that Jellie was purring even louder and was flicking her tail in satisfaction, as if she was enjoying the scene in front of her.

"Yes, well, I do pride my intelligence. Although there are more pressing matters at hand here. Most notably an enchanting paper that was dropped by Grian as he was flying back to the desert bunker, correct?" Prof. Beak asked. False did her best to ignore just how surreal the situation was and gave a weak

"Uh, yeah."

"Perfect. Miss Jellie, if you will?" At the bird's prompt, Jellie leapt out of Ren's lap and scaled one of the towers of Grian's mansion and disappeared behind the roof.

"You see, we were very rudely captured by that horribly possessive bird you likely saw perched on Grian's shoulder. We were kicked out and a copy of the page was destroyed. However, since the original was taken and dropped somewhere else, Miss Jellie and I took the liberty of retrieving it." And right on cue, Jellie was seen hopping down from the towers, a single paper gently placed in her mouth.

"I hope you'll find our efforts helpful." Prof. Beak finished as Ren took the paper from Jellie. He noted the enchanting inscriptions on it and a smile formed on his face, much to False's relief.

"Thanks, you two." Ren said, genuinely happy. He got two nods from the pets and he stood up before addressing False.

"I'm going to stick around here to make sure nothing happens to them while they're in that state." 

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure seeing your friends like that can't possibly be good for you mentally." Ren nodded, determined.

"Yeah. Now that I know there's hope, I'm sure I can keep my head on straight." He was definitely more confident, but False could see the distress lining his determined gaze. She gave a small sigh before standing and taking one of the grey parrots from her shoulder and placing it on Ren's.

"This guy'll keep you company. If anything happens, just send him into the air and he should return to me. And if you ever feel like it's too much, send for me. We'll help you out. Don't risk anything." False said, and despite the kind tone, there was obviously no room for argument. Ren was still thankful. He knew that if he took Prof. Beak or Jellie with him, it would look suspicious and two people sitting in silence in the jungle would also draw attention. If they were to talk, then Ren wasn't sure he'd be able to properly keep an eye on them. And so, despite the small guilty feeling False had, the two split up as False went to take the paper to Cub and the others.


	16. Chapter 16

False still felt concerned for Ren as she flew back to meet up with Cub and Impulse. She'd been taming parrots back in the jungle when she saw that Ren had stopped moving while perched up in the canopy. While it normally wouldn't worry her, the look on his face made her heart tell her something was wrong. He had looked absolutely crushed. She immediately took him out of the jungle and was thankful that both Jellie and Prof. Beak were able to help calm him down. She didn't know what to do and was frantically thinking of ways to get Ren to focus and clear his mind. While they sat on the stone steps listening to Jellie's purr and Prof. Beak's song, she read the small book that she'd been given by the bird. There wasn't much written and she was somewhat surprised that a cat and bird could have such coherent thoughts, but at that point, she'd take any help she could get, even if it was from the pets of her missing friends.

When Ren had calmed down and shakily explained what he'd seen, she cut him off since he was still quite obviously affected by the image of his mindless friends. False had both seen and experienced grief, so she could recognize what Ren was feeling. It worried her. 

The thought of their exchange plagued her as the desert came into view. She didn't bother to ask for details from Ren who honestly didn't look like he could handle talking about it, so the fear of the unknown was what bothered her most right then. Even so, she knew that the faster they got this whole thing over with, the faster they could all get to recovery.

False whizzed by the giant pyramid and dove towards the first hermit she saw, which happened to be Cleo.

"Cleo!" Said hermit looked up at False and flinched back when she saw just how fast False was barreling towards her. Instead of landing though, False pulled up just above Cleo's head and called out again, this time with a question.

"Where's Cub!?" Cleo's eyes lit up immediately as she realized the implications of False's hurried actions. They'd found something. Cleo immediately took off and glided up next to False who was slowing down, if only a little. Cleo fired another rocket and called back to False.

"Follow me!" And the two reached the opening to the small bunker in no time. Cleo and False crashed into the ground much harder than they had intended to, but not hard enough to care. Sand sprayed everywhere and Cleo rushed forward to bang on the closed trapdoor.

"Open up! We've got news!" A series of thumps and shouts of protests were heard from inside the bunker and soon enough, the trapdoor opened and Doc poked his head out.

"What did you find?" He demanded, drenched in sweat from being in such a small space with no ventilation and in close proximity to many hermits. False held up the paper.

"We've got the enchantment." Doc immediately turned to face whoever was also in the bunker and called out to them.

"Cub! We need you to see if you can read this. They've got the paper." He descended down the ladder that led up to the opening and more thuds and shuffles could be heard from inside, this time the shouts of protest were a bit louder and False couldn't help but wonder just how many hermits were crammed in that thing. False noticed Wels approach from behind her, presumably having heard the commotion, so she knew that there were at least two hermits who weren't in that tiny hole of a bunker. Doc's position on the ladder was eventually replaced by Cub who looked equally drenched and uncomfortable.

"Let me see it." And False handed over the paper. She watched as Cub scanned the lines of enchantments and Wels, Cleo, and herself waited in great anticipation for what Cub would say.

"... Beef was right. I can read it. Get me a book and quill and I'll write down the whole thing." Cub said, a smirk creeping onto his face. The others were beaming and a voice from inside the bunker could be heard, and False could recognize Joe's accent.

"I've got a book and quill you can use. Now can we get out of this tiny little bunker? It's hotter than the nether in here." Several murmurs of agreement could be heard from inside following Joe's request.

"Yes, of course. Just let me back in real quick so that I can get the book from Joe." Cub called back down. More shuffling was heard as Cub descended back down. After a few seconds, hermits came pouring out of the bunker, one right after the other, groaning and covered in sweat. It was actually quite a funny sight. It would forever be a mystery to False how so many people were able to fit in that tiny area. Once everyone but Cub had exited, False counted thirteen people crammed in that tiny space. She gave a nervous laugh before turning to Wels.

"How did they all fit in there anyway? And why weren't you and Cleo in there too?" She asked. Wels looked like he was holding back laughter as he explained.

"Well, you see, Doc wanted to get through those documents as quickly as possible, but the bunker was obviously too small to fit all of us. Cleo and I were told to look for the page out here 'so we can multitask' but between you and me, we're just out here because if we were in that bunker with everyone else, I'm pretty sure we'd need help to get back out. I'd take patrolling in the shadows of Cub's base over being crammed in that tiny desert oven any day." Wels said with a smirk. False couldn't help but laugh at the image of fourteen hermits all crammed inside such a tiny room in the middle of a desert, surrounded by paper. She earned a few slight glares from the suffering hermits who had heard the whole exchange and didn't approve of her laughing at their suffering.

Meanwhile, Cub was already hard at work writing down the enchantment. It was a strange thing to understand a language that you'd never taken the time to study. The characters and words were both foreign and familiar, but Cub did his best to ignore that and kept writing as quickly as he could. Now, they were all waiting on him. 

As he wrote, he didn't notice the quiet clambering of footsteps descending in from the trapdoor, and the soft breeze that started wafting through the now less cramped bunker. He was so focused that he didn't pay any mind whatsoever to Impulse, Jevin, Cleo, and Wels all fanning cool air towards him produced by a couple of blocks of packed ice they'd somehow obtained. Impulse had some ice on him already for whatever reason and he enlisted the help of Jevin, Cleo, and Wels to get the ice into the bunker. They left the trapdoor open to allow some ventilation and each one had grabbed a relatively flat object to fan the cooler air toward Cub. It was actually Tango who came up with the idea while he was busy distributing water bottles to the now very dehydrated hermits.

"The more he can focus the better." was what he'd said. He tended to like the warmer climates but knew that he was quite a bit more tolerant to heat than the rest of the hermits. Since he'd often keep his base a bit too warm for the liking of any visitors, he'd come up with a few ideas for when a hermit might grow uncomfortable at his base, which was where the ice idea came from. It was also common knowledge that Cub was also more tolerant of the heat than the others, but not quite so much as Tango. He had grown used to the desert heat, but he was still prone to overheating. False could be heard outside from inside the bunker, lightly scolding Doc for not at least having water for the hermits. 

The translation itself didn't actually take very long since it was only a page. By the time Cub had finished, the sun was nearly at its peak in the sky and some hermits were stowed away in Cub's base listening to False retell her experience with Ren, Jellie, and Prof. Beak while others had gathered both on and around the packed ice. The quiet "thwap" of the book closing and the tiny clatter of the quill on Cub's makeshift desk made the all of five hermits in the bunker look up at Cub. He stood and spun around on his heel to look at the people behind him, a smirk plastered on his face and the book held confidently between his fingers.

"It's done." Doc, who'd joined the others in the bunker, was the first to grab the enchantment. Before he could even open it, Cub started to explain a few details about the translation.

"Before you get all hyped about it though, there's something you all need to know. Since it's in English, saying the enchantment how it's written right now won't actually do anything. Just like normal, any enchantments need to be in the original language to work and also have some magic backing it up. Also, there are a few phrases that didn't translate as smoothly as the rest of the paper, so some of it might sound a little odd. Most of it was translated literally so that we could stay accurate to what's written." Cub stated. 

"Also, I can't write out the hermits' names for some reason, so I just wrote their initials in place of their names. If anything else seems weird, then ask me so I can tell you more about the original text. It's all rhymes and riddles so it's probably up to interpretation in quite a few places." After earning a nod from the small group, Doc read the page aloud, replacing the initials in the translation with the names of the hermits:

"Listen and listen to my desperate cry:

I stay alone until I die.

So, in an effort to heal my situation,

I will overwrite the server rules.

A barrier to act like a cage,

keeping them inside and setting the stage.

Those inside cannot be seen,

by anyone who can intervene.

The people, the people and the voices that they possess

they will never be found by the friends they have known.

Six to six will be restrained by force,

for a seventh that maintains its actions reigned.

The six of them have no choice but to follow our example.

driven by commands until they are released.

The first is Grian, to whom I granted some happiness.

the power of flight so they don't ignore me.

The second is Xisuma who wanted even more,

so I gave him the creatures shapes in abundance.

The third is then Iskall with pride but anguish,

Then I gave him crystals that would bring out the best in him.

The fourth would be Etho, eager to provoke

I let him have shadows that would hang from his cloak.

The fifth is Stress, already so kind,

she received lives, their hearts intertwined.

The sixth is Mumbo, shy but smart.

He will have lightning, a powerful art.

The seventh is Scar, a creator and magician,

their magic and words will come true when they hear it.

All these hermits will remain in the village,

finally aware of his generous privilege.

I will be there to instruct all your actions,

keeping them satisfied for my own satisfaction.

Outside of the people I've mentioned,

you will forget these names, friends and intentions.

The names I have listed will never be pronounced,

If they are written on paper, then the spell will be broken.

The six of the hermits will belong to number seven,

and the seven to obey without hesitation.

Inside the barrier, what I say goes,

impossible for any of them to oppose."

When he finished reading, it became somewhat obvious that the strange literature had been in a different language, especially with the strange grammar and on-and-off rhyming scheme. Doc looked to Cub and raised a brow.

"Sorry it sounds so clunky. It was much more eloquent in the original language." Cub defended. Doc huffed and looked back to the paper.

"Either way, this is what we've got. We should bring Joe in here to help us out." Doc said.

"Actually," Wels piped up.

"I don't think we'll need his expertise this time." The others in the bunker all looked up at Wels, confused.

"Why? It's all weirdly translated poetry and I'm not sure if anyone is more… fluent in literature than him." Cleo pointed out. Wels motioned for Doc to hold out the paper where they all could see it, and his bright cerulean eyes quickly scanned the page. After a few seconds, he outstretched his hand and pointed to a single line.

"Right there, 'If they are written on paper, then the spell will be broken.' Cub can't write their names, and only three people can say them. That's gotta be the easiest way out of this, right?" As Wels pointed this out, Jevin asked a question with a baffled look.

"Well, yeah, it looks like it. But, why would it be written like that? It seems way too obvious and exploitable. Technically, taking advantage of this line wouldn't even be an exploit."

"Actually, it's written a little differently in the original. That's basically what the line said, but it was worded a bit more subtly than that. I think it would have been harder to pick that out if it wasn't so literally translated. Also, that line seemed to be there to imply that nobody could write their names, but since it was also keeping with the flow of the rest of the lines, it had to be phrased like that. It can be interpreted both ways, but it's harder to catch in the original." Cub explained his theory and Jevin seemed to accept that answer with a thoughtful and slow nod.

"Hey, wait. So Doc, Jevin, and I can say the names of the jungle hermits, right? So do you think we can write them?" Cleo suggested. Doc grabbed the quill and immediately flipped to a new page in the book without responding. The others watched eagerly and their eyes stayed trained on his hand. It stayed frozen on the page, as if he was trying to will the names into existence instead of writing them. Eventually, after his expression grew significantly more tense, he let out a huff and shoved the book into Wels's hands, who then handed it to Impulse who was behind him so he could have a look.

"Of course we can't write them. That would be too easy." Doc muttered, obviously mad.

"Maybe that's where I come in." Impulse spoke up from behind the group, a hopeful smile on his face, obviously ready with an idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is! Part 16! Also, as a little bonus, the poem that I wrote as the enchantment was actually a coherent and definitely better worded poem at first. I wanted to make it sound somewhat authentic, like it had been translated from a language that wasn't easy to translate. So I ran the poem through a translator to get what you saw in this chapter. If you happen to be curious what the original was like, the poem will be posted in a separate chapter directly after this one.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the original poem that I ran through a translator for the story. I figured some people might be curious, but please keep in mind: I write fanfiction, not poetry, so it probably isn't the best thing you've ever read. Either way, here it is

Hearken and hear my desperate cry:

I remain alone until I die.

So in an effort to cure my plight,

The server's rules I'll overwrite.

A barrier cast to act as a cage,

keeping them in and setting the stage.

Those inside cannot be seen,

by any who might intervene.

The village the people and voices they own

will never be found by the friends that they've known.

Six count six will be forcibly restrained,

by a seventh who keeps their actions reigned.

The six have no choice but to follow our lead

driven by commands until they are freed.

The first is Grian who I granted some bliss,

the power of flight so I won't be dismissed.

The second is Xisuma who wanted yet more,

so I gave him the forms of creatures galore.

The third is then Iskall with pride yet distress,

then I gifted him crystals that would bring out his best.

The fourth would be Etho, eager to provoke

I let him have shadows who would hang by his cloak.

The fifth next is Stress, already so kind,

she received lives, their hearts intertwined.

The sixth one is Mumbo, timid yet smart,

he will have lightning, a powerful art.

The seventh is Scar, a creator and wizard,

his magic and words will come true when he's heard.

All of these hermits will remain in the village,

finally aware of their generous privilege.

I will be there to instruct all their actions,

keeping them compliant for my own satisfaction.

Any outside of the people I've mentioned,

will forget these names and friends and intentions.

The names that I've listed shall never be spoken,

If they're written on paper then the spell will be broken.

The six of the hermits will belong to number seven,

and the seven to me to obey without question.

Within the barrier, what I say goes,

impossible for any of them to oppose.


	18. Chapter 18

Nobody had been ready for what would come next. It was thought impossible for something so drastic to take place, and yet it had happened, in the dead of night. When they had felt that dreaded voice, they all knew that their brief time of respite had come to an end. They didn't speak or try to run, they knew there was nowhere to go. All they had done was share a look in their last brief moments of freedom. It was a terrible look that nobody had wanted to give, but it was simple in its meaning:

Goodbye. Each and every one of the cursed hermits somehow knew the future would be an unbearable time until a solution was to be conjured, but the hermits were resilient. Resilient and human. As they shared their silent farewells, their hearts ached like they never had before, especially as they watched the sorrowful expressions fade into a stony and blank look, void of any emotion that may have been there previously. Their eyes glazed and distant, hiding the vibrant personalities that no longer controlled their bodies.

Scar was the only one who didn't lose his control, and it showed visibly on his face. He was absolutely devastated. But his freedom didn't last long and he suddenly found himself teleported to the center of his village. More accurately, teleported to a refashioned version of the giant crystal in the center, hollowed out just enough for him to stand up in, as well as sit if he hugged his knees to his chest. The walls were solid and crackled with an energy that hurt his hand when he touched it with his bare skin. He couldn't tell just how he was able to breathe still in such a sealed off space, but that wasn't on the forefront of his mind.

He was trapped. His friends still roamed the village, but from the perceived loss of their entire personalities, they were just as trapped as Scar.

_See. The Jungle is generous. The Jungle gives my Wizard a good view of his familiars._

Scar wasn't one to hate others, but this Jungle had done too much to hurt them all. He couldn't help it. He hated that voice.

"You're not generous." Scar spoke, his voice cracking with emotion and tears threatening to spill right then and there. His vision, already somewhat obscured by the crystal, was even more compromised by his watery eyes.

"You're selfish. So unbelievably selfish. You said you granted our heart's desire, right? Well then if we really have all that we want, then why are we so miserable right now?" Scar's voice grew steadily louder and the emotion he'd done his best to keep covered up and stowed away for later was breaking free and sending fractures through his own cognitive mask.

_Silence! The Jungle did not risk this much and grant wishes only to be ridiculed. Now the Wizard must remain inside there while his familiars have fun without him. His familiars will spend time only with the Jungle until the Wizard learns to be thankful._

And just like that, Scar's mouth wouldn't move, no matter how badly he wanted to yell at his captor. Through his now freely flowing tears, he could just make out the shape of a red bird perched on Grian's shoulder. They both stared at him wordlessly and unblinking. Scar didn't have to keep looking around to know that the others were staring at him exactly like Grian and Jungle were. Soon enough, the others began to walk around and do several activities disguised as leisure, but Scar could tell that it wasn't really them. They were occasionally taking their masks off, and he could barely recognize his friends.

Scar couldn't bear to watch them anymore and took advantage of the only other position he could be in and slumped to the ground and hugged his knees to his chest. He couldn't hear anything outside of the crystal walls, only his own heartbeat and the occasional sob that he didn't bother to hide.

He'd had enough. It was all too much now. Everything he enjoyed had been taken from him, all within the span of a few terrible days. As he sat inside the prison, not looking at or listening to anything in fear that he might spot something even worse, he wondered if that's how Grian felt when he had spent that night inside the pendant. Probably not. He said that he didn't even have a body and couldn't tell how long had passed. To be fair though, Scar couldn't tell how long he'd been sitting there either. The sun probably rose much higher in the sky and he hadn't bothered to check. Maybe it was already sunset. He didn't know and was too scared to risk looking up and seeing something terrible.

It might have been better that he didn't look, since his stone-faced friends could barely stand it themselves. Iskall, Etho, and Xisuma had all started a game of hangman, but they weren't the ones playing. They could hear their actions be narrated by that horrid voice. It told them what to do, what to say, how to look; there was no leeway whatsoever, but each of them could still feel and perceive. The "game" was drawn out so long, and when the imprisoned hermits were able to focus enough and block out the constant voice, they were still able to guess the word long before their bodies would.

Mumbo, Stress, and Grian were all talking in a circle far away from the game of hangman and right in front of Scar's prison. They couldn't keep up with the conversation very well since the voice was even more intrusive as it detailed every word they were to say. They spoke about experiences they never had, people they never met, and opinions too shallow for any of them to actually believe in. 

The constant talking that they heard from each other as well as from the two voices in their heads, both their own and one that was not welcome, was driving them crazy, and all they could really do was feel all the pent up emotions that had gathered since this all began.

Hours. Hours had passed and their bodies still went about pointless and soulless activities. Grian sought to ignore any words he either heard or felt or thought and opted to just observe, lest he actually go insane. He'd spotted Scar several times in his peripheral and knew that the other hermits had as well. He knew without a doubt that everyone was concerned for him. He hadn't moved an inch. It hurt Grian, but his mind was too confused and disoriented to produce any coherent thought, so all he could do was feel his sorrow, anger, and concern bubble inside of him, eager yet refusing to break free.

Even after the sun had risen and passed its peak in the sky, Scar did not move, the voice did not stop, and they all remained trapped in their own respective prison. It grew harder and harder for the hermits to think and Jungle's voice seemed to constantly overpower their own thoughts. They all waited for something, anything to happen, but all that had happened was False had come and gone, not even seeing them.

But finally, the universe decided to give them a break. Admittedly the break came in a very terrifying and jarring way, but nobody in that jungle would ever complain about it. 

A horrific noise tore through their ears and minds, an unnatural stuttering screech that was backed up by a loud crackling noise that constantly jumped in pitch, but only grew louder. 

One second after the noise started, a piercing scream resounded from both Jungle's voice inside all of their heads, and the red parrot that it used as a vessel.

Two seconds after the noise started, the hermits all brought their hands to their ears and cringed, thankfully of their own volition. Even Scar who hadn't heard anything except for his own breathing and heartbeat for the last several hours.

Three seconds after the noise started, the red parrot perched on Grian's shoulder that had been screaming like a banshee started looking like it was shattering and reconfiguring itself rapidly, surrounded by bits of out of place colors and squares. It moved in unnatural, broken movements, hitting Grian several times yet never leaving his shoulder, as if its feet would not move as its glitchy form both tried to escape from and also stay glued to Grian.

Four seconds after the noise had started, Grian had let out a pained noise as the mess of glitching spread to his own shoulder and face where the bird was hitting with its wing.

Five seconds after the noise had started, the entire environment of the village fractured and corrupted, the grass looked to be constantly moving and the buildings flickered in and out of reality.

Six seconds after the noise had started, Scar put all his weight into the side of his glitchy prison and thankfully managed to phase out of it before it caused any harm to himself.

Seven seconds after the noise started, Ren came barreling out of nowhere and slammed an item frame into the broken form of the bird on Grian and it came tumbling to the ground with a thud. 

Eight seconds after the noise had started, Ren dropped the item frame, now contaminated with the corruption and looked to the others while bringing his hands up to his ears, but he put them down not long after.

Nine seconds after the noise had started, it stopped. A faint version of it could be heard still, emanating from the item frame, the houses of the village, and the crumpled bird, as well as Grian, though it was quickly dissipating. The hermits all removed their hands from their ears, thankful that the constant talking and screeching had concluded. Ren suddenly shouted to them all, very frantically, but still managing to stay steady because of a small grey parrot that had fluttered onto his shoulder.

"Follow me! The barrier's down but you all need to run for it!" He said before dashing off, a smile of relief creeping its way onto his face as he turned so that the hermits couldn't see. They wasted no time in following him, and were glad that they could do so without a command from Jungle or Scar. They all sprinted, or in Grian's case flew, as quickly as they could to the outskirts of the jungle. They all flopped down on the red sand when they had reached the mesa which was an adequate distance from that dreaded biome.

As they all laid there heaving from the sprint, Iskall started to laugh, followed by a triumphant

"Heck yeah!" as he threw his fist in the air, causing the others to chuckle tiredly.

"Wait, but, what happened?" Xisuma prompted, now more recovered.

"Yeah, I've got no clue. I just saw the chance and took it." Ren admitted.

"No like, why were you even there in the first place? How'd you see us?" Stress asked, sitting up.

"Oh right. Whoops. I guess I forgot that you guys weren't in the loop. Here, I'll explain it to ya." Ren said as he began his recap of the previous events.

"That's all I know though, so whatever happened just now, I had nothing to do with." He said as he held his hands up in a lightly defensive manner. He was still on an emotional high from seeing that his friends were themselves again so he was acting a bit more giddy than he usually would in this kind of situation and explained as much to his audience since they'd been giving him some confused looks.

"So, if we're out of there and we didn't need a command to get out, does that mean we're in the clear?" Etho questioned.

"Perhaps? I mean I think I'd still like to play it safe for a while, but-" Mumbo started before he was cut off.

"Uh, actually guys?" Ren spoke as if he'd just realized something bad. He pointed to the jungle trees they were a good distance away from but could still see.

"I think this isn't quite as cut and dry as it seemed. Look." The hermits followed his gesture and looked on as they observed the trees in the jungle glitching and phasing in and out. Random bits of matter would appear and disappear, bits of color would scatter and float and the terrain broke in a similar way they'd seen the village, bird, and Grian do only minutes prior.

"... dangit, not another setback…" Scar mumbled exhaustedly. The same noise, albeit quieter, from earlier began to course through the air. A familiar voice could be heard among the growing static, physically audible for the first time since the hermits had heard it. It was not any less disturbing.

_G-g-g-get BAAAAA-A-A C K HER-R-E_

The voice was distorted almost beyond recognition, but the jungle hermits had all been hearing it for the past several hours and would recognize it even if they'd only heard a word. That being said, the group promptly ducked into a part of Ren's valley that wasn't in view of the corrupting jungle.

"I think I understand what they did now." Xisuma said, looking at the ground.

"What?" They all asked in semi-unison. He paused.

"The reason we're able to act on our own but we still have our masks is because of what the others did to void the enchantment. I think they messed with code to allow them to break one of the rules, but they didn't remove all of the enchantment rules from the code. It probably would have been fine if they just used commands to break one of the rules, but from the looks of that jungle, that's not what they did. They didn't break the enchantment. They corrupted it." Xisuma moved to glance at the jungle.

"And from the looks of things, corrupting something as influential as that is probably going to need a world reset to fix."


	19. Chapter 19

Impulse had offered his assistance on what was, ironically, an impulse. When he said it, he'd sounded unintentionally confident, like he actually knew how to specifically approach this situation. Truthfully, he had no clue what he was about to do and was hoping for a bit of guidance from anyone who might have had more experience. But that didn't seem to be what the hermits had in mind though, since all they did was smile at him expectantly. After a few seconds of the expectant silence, he started wracking his brain for how he'd even access the admin panel. It had been so long since he'd had to use commands since Xisuma had taken up basically all of those responsibilities. True to his hazy memory, he rose one of his hands forward in a vaguely familiar gesture.

"Umm, okay so let's see if I can-" Impulse was cut off by a panel sizzling to life in front of him. The code in the panel was all laid out before him, but it was easy to tell that this was not all of the code that existed in this world. Commands and code tended to be a bit difficult to handle and messing something up had the potential to cause some serious problems, which was why it was impossible to access all of it in one place. The panel had limited control of several things as a security measure and most of the truly important code and files were near the tiny admin room located in the jungle and were usually protected by a few layers of security and even a miniature world border, accessable only by a select few. But that wasn't the information they were looking for. What Impulse wanted to do was possible without going to the admin room and didn't even need too much expertise, which he was grateful for.

Impulse tried to ignore the several pairs of eyes boring into him so that he could focus. He was looking for something specific and wasn't actually sure where he'd find it, so for a few precious minutes, he clicked around the panel in hopes of finding what he was after and being careful not to let his unsurity leak onto his face. The other hermits had begun to space out slightly as he searched the admin panel, so they were surprised when Impulse shouted an excited "Yes!" that caused everyone there to jump.

"What happened?" Cub questioned, standing straight up to look him in the eyes. 

"Look here,"

Impulse turned himself so that the hermits could read the panel properly. In the window, there was a list of seven names that all the hermits couldn't help but get excited at finally reading.

“These names are banned, so they can’t appear in physical text except for here in the panel. And while banned words can’t be written or typed in chat, I’m pretty sure they can be said out loud. The reason that we can’t say their names is probably because of something different that's deeper in the code, but this is probably the closest we’ll get with me in charge of this.” Impulse explained, hoping that he sounded somewhat competent in his speech. He was glad to see several nods and was even more glad when Doc took charge again.

“Alright, so their names are banned. If that was caused by the enchantment, then unbanning and writing their names should void the whole enchantment, right?” Doc questioned the group, only for Cleo to speak up.

“I don't know. I mean, yes, it’d probably void the whole thing but… I’m not sure about this. Normally I’d be all for trying something a bit crazy, but this whole situation is really weird. I don’t know if we should disrupt the whole thing like this. It is code, after all.” she pointed out. After a few moments of it being considered, Doc shook his head.

“Even if it is risky, I don’t think that there’s a better way to do this. It was stated so plainly in the actual enchantment so I think we’ve got a pretty good shot.” He said confidently. After a few hesitant nods were shared among the hermits, Cleo relented and Doc gave a small nod to Impulse, prompting him to unban the names. Impulse tacked away at the panel in a similar fashion to how they’d all seen Xisuma do, though admittedly Impulse was much slower. One by one, they all watched as the names disappeared from the panel.

The last name had eventually been erased and Impulse left the blank panel up to show the empty list in full view of the hermits.

“There we go, all unbanned.” Impulse proclaimed, actually quite proud of his ability to remember how to navigate the panel. 

“I guess now we can write their names down.” Wels said, readying the book he still had in his hands and opening the book to the page that Doc had tried and failed to write someone’s name. He grabbed the quill and began writing, much to the other hermits’ delight. Just as he was finishing the “a” on the end of Xisuma, a crackling noise ripped through the air with no discernable source. It was loud and unnatural, similar to an enderman's cry, but somehow even worse. Impulse’s admin panel also distorted itself into a glitchy mess before completely collapsing in on itself, giving out a quick, high and buzzing screech before dissolving into midair. The sounds was harsh and made the hermits’ skin crawl, so they quickly covered their ears only for it all to abruptly stop seconds later and be replaced with silence.

“... What just happened?” Cleo questioned nobody in particular. All the others gave her bewildered looks of confusion before turning to Wels who had just written down the name. When he realized that all eyes were on him, he began to stammer out what he thought.

“I… I don’t know. Maybe that was the enchantment being broken? I mean all I did was write down Xisuma-a-a-a-a-a-a-” His voice suddenly broke and crackled in an unnatural way, and the air around him stuttered and distorted, surrounding him with an aura of jerky movements and fractured space. It lasted far too long for anyone's comfort and they were able to make out the unbridled panic in Wels's eyes. The book he was holding looked to be ripping apart and reassembling several times a second, along with several parts of Wels's body. The chaos was then stopped abruptly and the other hermits stared wide-eyed at Wels who was standing frozen in shock with his eyes wide, a hand clamped to his mouth, and the book ripped down the middle of Xisuma's name and crumpled on the floor. None of the hermits had seen him rip the page, nor put his hand over his mouth, like it had all just teleported into place.

“Wh… what just… Wels, are you okay?” Impulse asked with justifiable urgency. Wels slowly and hesitantly removed his hand from his mouth before nodding even slower and forcing out a verbal response.

“Y-yeah. Yeah. Yeah I’m fine. That… didn’t feel pleasant…” He managed to say between small, adrenaline-fueled gasps. 

“I think this whole thing might have gone terribly wrong…” Cub mumbled, just loud enough for the others to hear. Doc eventually followed up, although there was a considerable delay.

“Okay. So I think what triggered that was that Wels was trying to say one of the names listed in the enchantment, or maybe just writing it did the trick. Unbanning the names might not have been such a clean solution after all…” Doc grumbled, somewhat mad at himself for not being more careful. Of course the code went deeper than that. This whole enchanting thing was based on loopholes and technicalities. If they mixed code with something that unstable, then of course something would go wrong!

“Whatever, it’s fine. We’ll fix this. But if Wels can’t say their names without that happening, then what about me, you, and Jevin?” Cleo asked pointing to herself, Doc, and Jevin as she listed the three.

“We could say their names before, but maybe saying them now might not be a good idea…” She continued.

“I guess it depends on if we want to risk it.” Jevin pointed out.

“Don’t.” Wels said in a more serious tone than many had heard him speak in.

“It’s not worth it.” he sounded grave in his request, and the others wisely decided not to push it.

"Alright then. New rule: we need to be very careful who's name we say." Doc announced, and the others nodded in agreement. Jevin took out his communicator to notify the others of the agreement and through a quick conversation with False and Tango who'd been brainstorming with the other hermits, they all decided to meet near Ren's base. Just as the hermits in the bunker were about to leave, their communicators buzzed again and they all let Jevin check it while they ascended the ladder to the surface. Before they could manage a takeoff, a shout was heard from behind them and they all turned to face Jevin who was scrambling out of the bunker and holding up his communicator.

"Guys! Something's up! It's bad." He sounded worried, but he readied his elytra while talking to the group.

"I'll explain on the way, but we need to get to Ren's base, now." There was no arguing as the group sped off and Jevin shouted over the wind.

"Okay, so the message was from Ren who's managed to get out of the jungle, but he said the place has become complete chaos. Things aren't right and he said that there's a lot more danger there now. I don't know specifically what it's like over there, but something tells me it's got something to do with what happened to Wels. Also…" he paused for a moment to collect himself.

"He's with the jungle hermits. I don't know how they got out or why they're able to disobey whatever commands they were given, especially after what False told us Ren saw. But apparently they've all gathered at Ren's place." That bit of news shocked them. What exactly had happened that allowed them to do that? Not that they were complaining though. In fact, every single one of them were incredibly relieved that they didn't have to stay in the jungle which had apparently descended into chaos. 

"Okay, good. If they're out of there then it at least means we made progress. We'll talk about it more with the others when we get over there." Doc proposed, and all of the hermits there agreed to wait until they met up with the others to discuss plans.

When they arrived, they were immediately greeted by Ren, who despite False's telling of his previous sorrow, looked quite perky. It was strange to see someone look so bright under the circumstances, but they decided not to ask about it.

"Hey my dudes, before you ask anything, I need you to answer me a question." Ren said, eagerness clearly visible in his eyes. He didn't wait for a response and instead waved to a group hidden behind a cliff of terracotta.

"I need you to tell me if you can see them." Ren said as he pointed to the group as they moved into view. And see they could as seven dearly missed hermits emerged from behind the cliff. Admittedly, it wasn't how they normally looked and they most definitely appeared worse for wear, but they were all easily recognizable, even behind masks. They all told Ren that they could in fact see them, exotic garbs and all. Cub even had to resist calling out Scar's name and instead quickly approached him and the two shared a short lived, but still very emotional embrace.

"However," Doc began as the hermits ran up to each other to greet their friends for the first time in days.

"they don't look clear. It's like they're…"

"Constantly flickering in and out of existence?" Ren finished with a small smirk on his face that was quickly overshadowed by a light earnestness. 

"Yeah. How'd you know? You can see them perfectly, right?" Doc asked, confused. Ren nodded.

"Yeah I can, but that's exactly what the others said." Ren explained, pointing to the final group of hermits as they walked up to join the conversation and concluding reunion.

"We all had a conversation about not saying names so we're good there. But we've got some other news." Ren explained before leading the group to a place where the jungle was clearly visible from a good distance. After the short time that had passed, the distortion had gotten quite a bit worse and even started to spread to the red sand. It was frightening, but Xisuma still calmly explained what he thought about the corruption of the code and how he suspected that it wasn't going to be easily fixable. When he mentioned the need for a reset, there was a unanimous look of anxiety shared among the hermits who hadn't heard the speech from him yet. Losing their hard work would be devastating. Xisuma noticed this and spoke again.

"Don't worry, it should be fixable if we use the world backup files in a compartment right next to my admin room. The problem is just that though; we can't get there easily. That entity is getting more and more crazy by the minute."

"Okaaay, so. Basically, we need to get inside that tiny room, but the room is in the jungle, and… and the jungle is a glitchy mess. And also…" Keralis summarized before his voice died out when he glanced over to the jungle he was speaking of. He looked worried, but not surprised, like he was about to spill some unfortunate news.

"And also… that." He pointed to a very specific spot in the middle of the cloud of corruption, drawing everyone's gaze to a slightly more busy looking area. Cleo squinted and looked hard before widening her eyes.

"Are those… parrots?" Sure enough, as the newly arrived group of hermits looked over to the colorful mess, they were able to spot a whirling and chaotic flock of what had to be at least a hundred birds, screeching like mad.

"They are. When we came here to meet with Ren, we noticed about twenty there, but more have been coming." False said, not taking her eyes off of the mass of dizzying color. The flock didn't change position, it only hovered there, occasionally attracting another bird that would join the frantic chaos. There was a moment of silence where nobody knew who should take charge before Scar spoke up.

"Okay. Okay, we can do this. We just need to get a couple hermits to that room so that we can get those backups. First, we need a way to calm down that glitchiness. As far as I'm aware, it's in all of the jungle biomes since they seem to be all connected to the same entity. Any ideas?" Scar was visibly quivering, as was his voice, but the hermits paid it no mind and started thinking anyway. Scar took charge dispute his nervousness for one reason and one reason only: the sooner someone spoke up and got this issue solved, the sooner he'd have everything back. He was scared out of his wits, but if nobody else was going to lead, then he would. 

Doc was deep in thought. Normally, he'd be doing exactly what Scar was doing, but his time spent baking in the tiny bunker made his mind a bit too slow for his liking. That, and all of his brain power was directed towards the matter at hand, barely paying any mind to the fact that his assumed position as leader had been taken by Scar. Then again, if he was busy rallying the group, he might not have come up with his plan.

A stuttering shriek was heard from the jungle, accompanied by a harsh, static buzz and the ear-splitting call of over a hundred birds and a very unpleasant voice.

_G-g̢̉-̨͝G-GÊ͙t oV̞̇V̥͑vv̥ve-e-E-E-R̟̆ H̤̋Ȩ͒-E-ȅ̘-E͎̽-Rṟ̿rrRȓ̨Ĕ̦_

The voice was indeed from Jungle, but the corruption was obviously amplifying.

"Hey, so those biome entities are connected to the actual biomes, right?" Doc asked.

"The corruption was affecting Wels earlier, but it faded after a bit." He explained, noticing the subtle change in the knight's expression that conveyed an unreadable emotion.

"Well maybe it's possible to lessen it somehow." He turned to face Wels directly.

"What were you doing when that happened earlier?" Doc asked in an urgent tone that sounded a bit more threatening than he would've liked. Wels cooperated anyway.

"It started because I wrote that name, so I tore the page in the book, hoping it would help. When it didn't work, I covered my mouth since I'd said the name too. Then after a few deep breaths, it stopped when I'd calmed down. Maybe it has to do with strong emotions?" Wels offered somewhat stiffly. Doc put a hand to his chin and thought.

"Hmm, I think that's a good point. In your case, it was probably the shock that came when you first started glitching that made it keep going, so when you calmed down, then you were able to stop…" Doc's voice grew slowly quieter as he became more engulfed by his thoughts.

"So theoretically, if we were to calm down Jungle, or at least restrain it, the corruption should get better… but how would we confirm that…?" He asked the last part more to himself, but the others heard it. And then, before anyone could stop him, Grian, who was behind Wels since the group gathered, flew up quietly behind him and lightly jolted him forward while letting out a very loud and sudden yell. 

As soon as he'd done so, Wels jumped and his shout was heard and immediately dissolved into a mess of glitches similar to how they'd just heard Jungle yell at them. His body distorted like it had before, and after an uncomfortable number of seconds filled with jerky movements and pixel-like fracturing, he finally stopped. Grian fluttered to his front side, now more worried than he'd been when he came up with the idea to scare Wels. His worry grew even more when he saw just how wide his eyes were. He was biting the fingers on his right hand while his left appeared to be clawing at his own heart. Grian's worry doubled while his guilt surfaced.

"Wels? Are you okay…?" Wels just looked down and stood for a few more seconds, heaving. Grian now deeply regretted what he'd done and his eyes behind the mask put his guilt on full display. Finally, after what seemed like forever but was actually only a handful of seconds, Wels looked up and met Grian's unique violet eyes with his own shining sky blue ones. Grian had never actually seen Wels glare until then, but he'd heard what he sounded like when he was angry. It was quiet and intense, and made Grian's stomach drop.

"Never. Do that. Again." When Wels said that, Grian's mind went back to when that bird was glitching on his shoulder. He knew it wasn't pleasant, but he didn't think it was that bad. But then again, it was only his shoulder and cheek that had been glitchy and it went away so quickly. Grian started exclaiming his very rapid and sincere apologies, and Wels's expression quickly softened and his posture relaxed. Grian couldn't imagine what having that corruption spread through his entire body would be like, and he felt bad for making Wels relive it. Thankfully, Wels was forgiving, but Grian made a mental note that he'd do him a big favor when this was all over and done with.

"Okay." Scar spoke over the constant noise from the jungle, but was slightly gentler in tone so he wouldn't surprise Wels again.

"The glitching can be amplified by emotion. That means if we can find a way to subdue Jungle, then we should be able to send a couple of people over to the other jungle to get in the admin room. Now. Any ideas on how exactly we'd do that?" Scar sounded so disappointingly unconfident, but Impulse, who wore a look of guilt undoubtedly because he felt responsible for the corruption, raised his hand.

"I think I have one. If I'm right, we should be able to use this messed up enchantment against Jungle."


	20. Chapter 20

Impulse, for the second time that day, was receiving even more unwanted looks of high expectations. He couldn't understand why they trusted him so much, especially after the problem he'd caused in the code. Even so, he took this as his opportunity to make up for his mistake. He crossed his fingers hoping that his idea this time wouldn't be full of holes.

"I remember something from that enchantment that I think might help… now that I'm looking at Gri-… Desire…" Impulse was careful to use Grian's alias even though he realized he was actually able to say his name. His eyes briefly drifted over to Wels who still looked shaken, but he pulled his mind back to the matter at hand.

"...I can tell you guys were given certain abilities based off of the enchantment." Impulse said this as he waved Grian over and gestured specifically to his wings.

"Since he can still fly, I think the rest of you can still use your abilities as well. If that's the case, then maybe you could use that to make some progress?" His tone drifted up as he phrased the suggestion as more of a question. He wanted to make sure they were more careful this time around when he offered a suggestion instead of just going with it, so he made sure his tone sounded more unsure than last time so that at least more than one hermit might think twice.

It was Doc who answered after him again, and Impulse secretly hoped he wouldn't get hasty again with his decision. He was a hard hermit to sway when he was dead set on something which was beneficial in many circumstances, just not this one.

"He's right. I remember the part that talked about the abilities. But how would we use those?" Doc seemed to be a bit more open to outside suggestions which was good to see and Impulse was glad that he was aware of the need for more discussion.

"Well, those parrots are probably there for a reason, and Ren, wasn't the entity a parrot as well? Maybe they're all gathering like that so it'll be harder to find it." False pointed out. Ren nodded in confirmation and the jungle hermits all mumbled agreements as well, but there was a look of discomfort that could only be seen by those close enough to notice it in their eyes behind the masks. 

The hermits weren't actually sure if taking off their masks at this point would actually do anything, but they left them on for a handful of reasons. One of those was seeing what had happened to Wels after he'd presumably broken the enchantment rules. Another was that Grian was very against it, to the point where he'd periodically check to make sure that the mask wouldn't accidentally slip off. The others had also experienced the strange sensation that having the mask off gave them when they were under the strict control of Jungle and didn't want to risk it either, though admittedly, it was not quite to the degree that Grian was against it. And so, they kept their expressions hidden from the group still. 

"Yeah, I smacked it with an item frame earlier so that might've been what gave us enough time to escape that place." Ren said, feeling slightly proud of himself for being able to provide such information.

"Good. If you jungle hermits can find a way to use your abilities to find and restrain that parrot without glitching out, then we can send some hermits to the admin room when the corruption clears up. Wels was able to confirm that emotions affect the severity of the glitching so knocking that thing out should do just fine." Doc said as most of the hermits tried to ignore the almost gleeful smile on his face that appeared as he talked about his very straightforward plan. A straightforward plan that, mind you, seemed to be fairly popular among the hermits even if they thought Doc was a bit too excited at the idea of punting a parrot into the sunset.

"Wait, hold up, I've a few questions if you don't mind?" Mumbo asked as he raised his hand to show his position in the crowd despite towering over most of the others.

"First off, how are we even supposed to use these abilities? We don't even know what they are." 

"I can help out! I figured it out and I didn't get much help so I'm sure you all can figure it out pretty quickly." Grian spoke up and raised his hand to call Mumbo's attention. The hermits shuffled around so that the two could have a clear line of sight as they spoke.

"Okay... second, what are we calling each other? I think we can just go by our hide and seek names, but you two already have nicknames." Mumbo pointed to Grian and Scar, but earned looks of confusion from the other hermits since they weren't informed of their game of hide and seek.

"I think I can go by Heart while he goes by Desire so it's not as confusing for the others. The rest of you can go by your hide and seek names." Scar suggested, thankful for the swift agreement from the masked hermits.

"Wait, hold on. 'Hide and seek' names? I think we need some context." Joe interjected. Scar briefly explained their game of hide and seek to the others and recapped what their names were from the game.

"Wow, that game sounds like it was fun, honeeyyy deeearest!" Tango leaned in towards Xisuma and dragged out his pronunciation of the admin's title, a teasing mischievous grin stretching wide across his face. Xisuma sputtered and looked at Tango.

"Wh- not like that!" He exclaimed defensively as Tango cackled beside him. Meanwhile, Iskall was subject to similar, albeit less flustering teasing from some hermits since they had to call him Slime, which was a very unflattering nickname, especially in the eyes of Jevin who found the jokes based around himself unnecessary. It wasn't as awkward for Etho, Mumbo, and Stress since Rose and Torch seemed fairly normal and Wool didn't have much teasing potential.

"Okay okay, let's get started. We've got no time to waste!" Scar proclaimed as he clapped his hands together. Not only did he feel more confident now that some semblance of a plan of action was in place, but he sounded more confident as well also thanks to the added help of the group. He smiled as he redirected the group, giddy from the new progress. The other hermits grinned as well and quieted down quickly. Every hermit would say that Scar's smile was very contagious and Doc would later say that it was possibly that trait of his that helped the very tense hermits to get their bearings even if only for that moment in time.

"So first, I think we should try to have those abilities awakened, or whatever we're calling it." He nodded to Grian who hopped over to a part of the valley that was much more open and waved his hand so that the masked hermits would make their way over towards him.

"Also, Doc." Scar addressed his friend who was listening intently.

"Can you try to prepare the others for what might happen? I think we should all try to be ready…" Scar tried to word this request gently, but couldn't miss the expressions of several hermits harden slightly at the thought of something going wrong yet again. Doc nodded and drew his sword from his inventory before walking to an empty space far away and across from Grian's and plunging the sword into the ground, marking the gathering spot for the other, slightly less magical hermits.

"Okay, then I guess we're ready to get going?" Scar prompted the crowd, only to be answered by a startling and enthusiastic shout from them all that made Scar jump and clutch his hat to his head. They all immediately dispersed in a frenzy and began preparing, leaving Scar slightly stunned by what he assumed was supposed to be some sort of war cry. He smiled to himself once he'd relaxed some. Now would be the calm before the storm, the oncoming onslaught foreshadowed by the maddened cries of a corrupted biome and the creeping wall of glitches that encroached the red sands of Ren's valley.

Scar took a small breath to ease his nerves and trotted over to Grian's group who he was already instructing.

"... ready to start. Who's first?" Grian asked the magical group with a smirk so prominent that it could practically be felt through his mask. After a beat of silence, Iskall hesitantly raised his hand.

"I guess… I'll go." He sounded strained. Not like he was worried or scared, just apprehensive. You could see the exact moment when Grian's eyes lit up with eagerness.

"Perfect!" He grabbed Iskall's hand and dragged him away from the group so that he was standing in full view of them all.

"Okay. Close your eyes." He commanded and Iskall reluctantly did so. 

"Now, I need you to ignore whatever other thoughts you've got right now. Jungle changed you. It cursed you. It changed more than just your clothes though. I need you to look for what else it changed." Grian's voice grew steadily more low and serious. The shift was more obvious to Iskall who couldn't see that his eyes were still smiling eagerly which was a stark contrast to his now very earnest tone. He still did as he was told though and turned his focus away from Grian and to his own mind. 

It was true. There was something that felt different, though Iskall couldn't tell what it was. He focused more on the feeling and his surroundings faded from his attention. It was hard to grasp and whatever it was seemed unstable and temporary, like it was never meant to be there in the first place. Iskall reached for it still and felt it grow closer and more hard to ignore. The moment he was able to get a hold of it, his mind was forced back to reality and brought the feeling with it. He heard the crackling of earth and felt a spray of sand hit him and he flinched in favor of covering his face and keeping his eyes closed. The sound of earth fracturing was accompanied by the shouts of what sounded like Grian, Mumbo, and Stress who'd been closer to the front of the group. 

When all was quiet again, Iskall opened his eyes and lowered his arms from his head. Right in front of him was a giant crystal of glowing green matter and he could see the group of masked hermits through it, backed up further than they had been previously. Grian, who'd been right where the crystal now stood, was now toppled backwards onto the ground with his wings sprawled onto the sand.

As Iskall looked around him more, he realized that he was surrounded by a small ring of these crystals and was just now noticing that he felt somewhat lighter on his feet.

"... Woah…" was all he could muster. Scar was also very surprised at the several crystals that had exploded out of the ground. He was reminded of his own magic crystals, but realized that these had a different aura to his own.

"Oh… they give out potion effects!" Scar exclaimed, allowing Iskall to process why he felt so light and spry.

"... Oh you're right!" He readied himself for a jump and, to the other hermits' surprise, launched himself in the air and easily cleared the ring of crystals. Once he landed, he started laughing excitedly.

"Jump boost! That is mega!" He earned a collective smile from the others and was happy that it managed to work.

"Okay. Now that that's over with, who's- woooaahh!" Grian had attempted to jump up from his place on the mess floor and ended up rocketing up much higher than intended while he frantically flapped his wings in an attempt to gain control. All it did was make him glide for a couple meters before slamming directly into Iskall's crystals and tumbling to the ground. The entire group burst out laughing, including Grian himself. In the middle of the wave of laughter, Grian shouted up from his place on the ground.

"Hey Slime! You think you could take these down?" Iskall nodded and kept laughing while he placed his hand on the ground and the crystals shattered into air, leaving the group to no longer feel the boost they gave off. When they finally stopped laughing, Grian jumped up again, this time without any consequence.

"Alright. Now who's next?" Etho was the one who raised his hand this time and he stepped forward on his own, slightly slower still due to the heat and his very insulating attire. Grian stood in front of him like he had Iskall and spoke similar words. As Etho concentrated, Grian had gone quiet to hopefully make it easier, and after about thirty seconds of silence, Grian felt a chill run through him. Something was crawling up his back and whatever it was was big, cold, and fast. Before Grian could move, he felt an animal-like limb curl around his neck and push what felt like a sharp claw to his skin, just light enough so that it wouldn't draw blood. He couldn't move.

"H-hey. Uh, Rose? Could uh, c-could you… open your eyes real quick?" Grian squeaked out. Etho did so and when his gaze focused on Grian, his eyes went slightly wider. There was his friend looking at him with scared eyes as an inky black creature Etho had never seen before clung to his back with a sharp claw keeping him from moving. The creature felt like it had some kind of shifty, ulterior motive, and Etho could swear it was grinning with some mischievous glee even though it possessed no face of its own. Acting on instinct, Etho held out an arm and the creature leaped from Grian's shoulders and onto his own in a much more relaxed and non-threatening manner. He felt as if the creature could communicate with him, although he could tell it wasn't making any actual noise. It unnerved him that the creature could communicate with him in a way that was so similar to Jungle, albeit somewhat more primitive, but he was willing to deal with it for this cause. That, and as it curled up on his shoulders and head, he could feel the coolness seep through the fabric and allow him some relief from the unrelenting heat.

"Ahem. Okay, next!" Grian said stiffly, his hand drifting up towards his neck but not quite reaching the spot where Etho's creature had threatened him. He instead forced his mind away from the chilling ability and pasted a smile on his face to help his nerves settle a bit. 

"I'll go!" Stress raised her hand and spoke loudly and eagerly, though she was more just trying to distract the group from how "shady" the creature seemed. It was on their side and being worried about it could make morale worse. Besides, Etho seemed to be getting along well with it as it cooled him off and a small smile could be seen in his eyes behind the silver mask.

Stress stepped forward and Grian approached her as well, apparently not having learned his lesson from the previous two. He spoke again, but Stress was already closing her eyes and focusing. For whatever reason, it took much less time for Stress to snap her eyes open and exclaim that she could tell what had changed. Grian, realizing that he was probably too close to be safe, took a couple of frantic steps away and to the side. And yet, nothing happened. They all turned to Stress, looking for answers.

"I'm serious! I can feel all of the life here! There's three creepers in a cave below us, a chicken that's wandering the mesa, and there!" she pointed to the growing sphere of chaotic parrots that had grown bigger already.

"There are three hundred and twenty four parrots there! Three hundred and twenty five now. They’re coming in really fast…” Stress said with a tone that slowly devolved into concern.

“Okay… you can sense entities? How does that help us? We can do that with our communicators…” Grian asked from the sidelines, letting his guard down somewhat.

“Wait, let me try something.” Stress said before shutting her eyes and concentrating. She could feel a presence from right outside the jungle; a large presence that had escaped the chaotic domain.

“...okay, well since our communicators were taken by Jungle maybe this can-” Grian was cut off by the distant thumping of a large animal, and Stress had finally opened her eyes, beaming at the creature she’d summoned. A large, very excited panda had somehow made it out of the thick of the jungle and over to the group thanks to Stress’s call and came barreling over Grian from behind and only stopped when it was close enough to Stress to lick her face.

“Oohhh, hello lovely! Oh yes, you’re so cute!” Stress baby talked to the giant panda and two more slightly smaller ones quickly joined the hoard of overly strong fuzz crowded around Stress. Grian was laying on the ground after having the wind knocked out of him and Iskall took the opportunity to summon another green crystal from the ground, giving the whole group, including Grian, some regen. Grian eventually coughed and slowly stood up straight, not bothering to jump up like he had done previously and instead waiting for his wing to heal along with what he would later swear was a broken rib, not that anyone would be able to confirm that it was that severe.

“Ahem. Ow. Okay… next.” His strained voice was barely heard over Stress’s laughter from the licks of the pandas, but as soon as she gently shushed them, they immediately settled down enough to sit still, but were still obviously excited. Xisuma raised his hand next and briskly stepped forward. Grian, now fully healed, stepped closer to Xisuma while the others stepped back. By now, Xisuma had heard what Grian was telling the others and simply closed his eyes and began concentrating before Grian could begin speaking. The feathered hermit shuffled backwards, hoping that he wouldn’t get caught in any crossfire. After a few moments, some particles began to surround their admin and were completely covering him in seconds. In the blink of an eye, the particles exploded outwards and evaporated harmlessly, but still managed to make Grian flinch backwards and shut his eyes. When nothing happened, Grian opened his eyes to look in front of him. There, hovering where Xisuma had previously been standing, was a single, fuzzy, bee.

Grian blinked and relaxed himself, making sure his eyes were smiling enough to be seen by the others.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad!” Grian exclaimed. The bee bobbed in the air and Etho’s shadow creature leaped from his shoulders and floated over to it.

“Oh… he can shapeshift. Not just into a bee apparently, but a bunch of things.” Etho said after a bit of silence. Mumbo looked at him, eyebrows raised in confusion.

“You can understand the buzzing?”

“No, but I can understand that,” he pointed to his shadowy follower

“Which can understand the buzzing.”

“I can understand him too!” Stress exclaimed from her pile of pandas that looked incredibly out of place in the mesa. More particles surrounded Xisuma and he shifted his form into a wolf. He barked and the shadowy creature landed on the ground and mimicked the action, but no sound came out. It tilted its head before its form started to liquidate and warp. Etho suddenly looked a bit worried.

“Uh, you… might not want to do that… please stop…” His voice weakly protested, but the creature didn’t stop. Xisuma whimpered as the creature morphed disturbing imitations of Xisuma’s wolf form and let out a sharp gurgling sound that was probably meant to be a bark. It was not a bark.

“...Please never do that again.” Etho requested, though the creature didn’t seem as compliant as Stress’s pandas and simply turned toward Etho and gave another sharp gurgle. Etho cringed and could hear the creature laugh in his head when it saw his expression, finally shifting back to its original, much less disturbing form. Xisuma, not sure if he’d be able to look at a wolf again without remembering the very unfortunate sight he’d just had to witness up close, shifted back to being a human.

“Alright, Torch, you’re up next.” Xisuma said, pointing to Mumbo. Grian approached him, now more confident after not having his safety threatened, and told him to close his eyes like the others. Mumbo listened to Grian talk this time and let him finish before he did any concentrating. When he did though, it took a few moments before Grian felt a crackle in the air. Mumbo felt it too, but it felt more like the crackling was coming from his own body. He could feel the energy build up before it exploded all at once, accompanied by both a loud clap of thunder and a scream from directly in front of him. He opened his eyes as soon as it was over and noticed that some of the sand around him had turned into red hot glass and Grian was several feet further away from him and wide-eyed. Some of the feathers on him were singed as well.

“O-okay. Lightning. Of course it’s lightning. What else would it be? You just struck yourself with lightning. Yikes.” Grian mumbled and slowly straightened himself while both Mumbo and Scar found themselves chuckling at the sight of a shaken Grian and the absurdity of Mumbo getting directly struck by lightning of his own creation and being completely fine.

“Well then, I think we should start deciding who should stay here and who should go after the world backup.” Scar interjected, feeling more confident as his friends were able to discover new advantages they had in this bleak situation.

“Hm, why don’t I go with Desire to the admin room since we’d probably be the fastest and I’m the only one that can actually get the backups?” Xisuma suggested while gesturing to Grian’s wings.

“I think that’s a good idea. Let’s bring it up with Doc and see if anyone in the other group wants to tag along.” Scar said. The others nodded and sought out Doc and the others for a quick meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to put a little thank you at the end of this chapter cuz I felt like it needed to be said. You guys are absolutely awesome and thank you all so much for being so kind and supportive! I hope you'll let me know if there's anything you think should be improved so that this can be the best it can be. I'm loving all the feedback in the comments and I'm super glad you guys are enjoying this little work of chaos. Anyway, thanks for reading!


	21. Chapter 21

When Scar and company approached the others, he noticed how weirdly quiet everyone was. It was uncomfortable at best and disheartening at worst. They all looked so serious and focused on making sure they had everything ready. He separated from the herd of masked hermits and approached Doc who was hunched over a crafting table.

"Hey! Is uh, everything good?" Scar asked, hoping he wouldn't have to point out how everyone's determination had morphed into mild dread. Doc looked up at Scar from where he was crafting up some potion bottles and the look on his face showed that he was aware of the solemn looks everyone bore.

"Not really. While you guys were sorting out those abilities, we had a bit of a scare." Scar noted Doc's delicate tone and grew instantly concerned. He could hear the sounds of the magical group practicing their abilities a decent ways behind him, but elected to ignore it, only jumping when he heard a crack of thunder from Mumbo. Doc raised a brow when he saw the lightning strike for what was now the second time and Scar shook his head dismissively. Doc continued his explanation.

"It's Wels. He's not doing great. One of those glitchy parrots made their way over here and before we could smack it out of the sky, it dive-bombed Wels and made him jump. He's calmed down, but he hasn't stopped glitching. Cleo made him promise to sit out the fight, but he can't really help anyway since anything he touches starts corrupting." Doc pointed to a tent that was presumably pitched by Wels since the whole this was buzzing and breaking in ways that shouldn't be possible, very occasionally revealing the armored knight inside who was scribbling in a book. Scar looked away somewhat hastily from the saddening sight.

"Ever since that happened, I think the others got kind of spooked." Doc said with a look that could be confused with frustration, but Scar knew him well enough that he could tell it was concern.

"A reset should fix that issue actually." Xisuma's familiar voice was heard from behind Scar and he strolled up to the pair looking refreshingly confident.

"I don't have a way to get everyone off the server right now, but once everyone has exited and come back in with the backup in place, then Wels's issue should fix itself. Along with restoring the world of course." Xisuma offered in an attempt to act like the reliable admin he knew they expected from him. He still felt like he'd done too little to ease the situation so he left the magic group while they practiced so he could consult the two unofficial leaders.

"You have a plan?" Doc deduced from Xisuma's confidence.

"Something like that. We'll need you guys' support though." Scar said, a smile creeping its way back onto his face with the reminder of their hope. Doc contracted the contagious smile and called over the hermits in a booming voice. They all came rather quickly, even Wels who was starting to grow used to the constant glitching. Scar could tell that it wasn't as severe as he'd seen it, though Wels was obviously still having a hard time with the strange movement and constant discomfort. He stayed near the back of the crowd, a decent distance from the hermits. 

Scar wasted no time in explaining the various abilities that had been granted to them and, for the extra clarity and practice, even had them display the strange powers. 

Stress had now obtained two new rabbits and an enderman (somehow) that the group was very careful not to look at. Stress didn't look bothered by its presence and would even periodically look it in the eyes, going on about how it was a "frienderman" and that it was "actually pretty chill" and it even had the name "Ecnerual".

Etho's shadow creature seemed very eager to steal the spotlight and loved showing off its various disturbing forms and destructive abilities, and the group was able to experience its incredible speed and agility, though it was fairly disobedient. It took the entire group purposefully ignoring it for it to gurgle in disappointment and finally listen to Etho's commands to cut out the creep show and settle back onto his shoulders.

Mumbo had found a way to direct the lightning where he wanted it to go and even concentrated it into a stick-like shape and used it as a strange and surprisingly threatening staff that could only be held, or even touched, by himself. He took great pride and pleasure in calling the hazardous staff a "lightning rod".

Iskall didn't immediately show his excitement when displaying his crystals, but he would eventually let out a gleeful giggle when Mumbo realized he'd been inflicted with slowness from a crystal far beneath the ground that only had Mumbo in its spherical range. 

Xisuma was having fun shapeshifting and even tried to shift into a couple hostile mobs, but found the sight and mobility of the creatures were a bit too uncomfortable and left him slightly nauseous, though he had a newfound respect for all of the non-human hermits. Though he did discover that vexes could fly much quicker than he thought and might be the form he would default to for his trip to the admin room.

Scar detailed their idea for sending Grian and Xisuma to the admin room because of their speed and Beef presented the group with a suggestion.

"What if we use those crystals to give them a speed boost when they first go in there?" He suggested, gesturing over to Iskall. Before Scar or anyone else could respond another cry from the jungle tore through their eardrums and they all immediately covered their ears. Scar couldn't help but notice that it was getting harder to understand.

_Ḭ̸̟̟́ ̵̩̹̖̹̫͕̿͌̋̓́w̵̲̗͗I̴̧̗̱̺̹̋̔̿̂͋́-̸̥̜̖̗͍̗̓̈I̶̢͈͚͛̓̅̒̄-̴̹̲̟̇̉̒̈͌̚ȋ̶̡̧̝̮̲̄͑̈́̓I̸̡͉̯̼͝i̴̛̦͂̓L̸̡̮̤̺̃͐L̸̦̑ ̵̡̌͂̉̓̅̚ͅĭ̷̗̟̗͙̒̈́̄̋̕m̷̳͈̉́̂̃̂P̵̢̘̙̏͊̎̈͝͠r̸̡̙̱͕̿͂͆ͅ-̶̢̲͔̮̈́R̷̨̥̤͔͇̿̓-̴̧͕̝̳̭̈́̽̀͜Ŗ̵̺͙̠͚̓̊-̵̰͈̠̙̫̯͑̒͝R̶̢̛̯͔͎̟̄̍͑͝ͅI̸̡̤̲̯̻̳̕s̵̩̎͐Ơ̶̧̻̦̣̇̏̉̿͝ñ̷̻͇͔ ̶̲̈́͒̓͠Y̶͍̻͈̿͌O̴̱̙͍̿̾͐̓͜O̷̗̯̎̇U̵̧͓͎̜̿̒̐͜͝_

The voice was followed by a roar of screeching and crackling, along with a barely audible sound of pain from Wels who's own glitches had worsened for a moment before dying back down along with the noise. Scar chose to not acknowledge the voice and responded to Beef's proposal.

"I think that's a good idea, even if he can't provide speed the whole way, it might save a few precious seconds." Scar said, but Wels, somehow still able to speak, rose his voice from the back of the crowd.

"I th-i-i-ink we should have more pe-e-eople go. The glitches will probably slo-ow you guys down and sp-e-e-e-ed may not be what makes or breaks this. I think sec-c-curity might be our best strategy." Wels offered, his voice distorting in ways out of his own control. The group wasn't actually sure what to do when Wels presented the idea. The choice was between speed and caution, and what they decided on might be what decides who gets engulfed by glitches and who gets through to the secure admin room.

Scar took a deep breath before sorting out his thoughts. Xisuma would need to go either way, but if they were to go the secure route, he'd need to send different people with him. He'd probably send Iskall and Stress with him for the potion buffs and Stress's ability to keep mobs away. If they were to go the quick route, he'd send Grian to fly with him and watch his back while Iskall would give them an initial speed boost with his crystals that wouldn't last the whole way. Either would work in theory, but the circumstances were unique. The glitches were what Wels was worried about, but what Scar was mostly curious about was how their height on the journey would affect the spread of the corruption. They'd either be among the dense foliage or in the open sky. For all they knew, the glitches could spread just as quick while they were in the sky and cause them to fall to the ground and become unprotected, but having them guarded on the ground might slow them down enough that the glitches would consume them completely before they made it on time. Scar eventually huffed before he addressed the still thoughtful crowd.

"Does anyone have any snowballs?" They all looked at him, confused, but XB offered up some snow he had on hand and proceeded to help Scar pack it into several snowballs. Scar led him to the edge of the Jungle and as close to the glitching as his conscience would allow him. 

"Okay, on three I need you to throw the snowball into the jungle and make sure it doesn't hit a tree or something. I'm going to tower up and throw mine above the trees, okay?" Scar instructed. XB shrugged, somewhat confused by the instructions, but still somehow willing to agree with the strange request without question. Scar towered up using some sand and was able to see over the jungle that hardly looked like home anymore.

"Okay, one!" He shouted so XB could still hear him.

"Two!" He readied his snowball and saw XB do the same.

"Three!" They threw their snowballs at the same time and Scar observed his soar into the dangerous territory and glide somewhat uneventfully until it hit the branches of a jungle tree and fizzled out of existence in a way that Scar had never seen a snowball do, only for it to reappear in a more melted form and slowly drip off the broken leaves. Scar descended from his height and noticed that the group of hermits that had followed them there were all staring at the two, some with visible confusion while others nodded in mildly impressed realization.

"So… what did that do?" XB asked, revealing himself to be among the confused group of hermits.

"First, I need to ask you something. How far did your snowball go before it started glitching?" Scar inquired. XB looked back to the direction he threw the snowball and squinted before answering.

"I'd say ten meters once it crossed the edge of the glitches?" XB said that as he looked to Scar, as if he was asking if he said the right thing. Scar nodded and turned to the crowd.

"Okay, I think it'll be best if we go with the original plan. We should be less at risk so long as they're flying. The snowball glitched out quicker when XB threw it so I think the speed idea will be our best bet. Uhh, any objections?" Scar realized how commanding he sounded while he was so focused and his tone shifted to a more passive one at the end of his little speech.

"I think that's a great idea. I'll go with Desire since we can fly pretty fast and the rest of you can stick around here and take care of those parrots." Xisuma spoke like the idea was the obvious choice, and to his credit, the others seemed to think so as well. Wels, who had brought up the issue, even nodded from the back, agreeing that this would be the best way to go about it. Iskall spoke up next.

"Awesome. I hope someone doesn't mind me borrowing some elytra so I can tag along?" He asked with a smile visible in his eye. Wels offered his own which he had abandoned in a shulker when they'd started preparing for the conflict so that he would be able to wear a chestplate, only for his glitching to render him relatively helpless. Iskall gladly took the elytra and before the three were sent off to the other jungle, they were stopped by Keralis.

"Woah woah woah woah woah, I've got something. It's something very important. Or maybe not that important. I don't know. But hey, it might help." He presents the three hermits with two items: one being a pair of boots enchanted with feather falling and the other was a normal looking diamond sword with no enchantment glint on it.

"I thought you might need the boots since you're flying and all that but uh… the sword is more of a… good luck charm. Yeah! I know you were told about that glitchy bird that flew in earlier. Well, I used that sword to knock it down and I'm not all glitchy, so maybe it's lucky or something." Keralis finished. Iskall handed the boots to Xisuma since if he died on the way, they'd all be pretty much doomed and the sword went to Grian who didn't have much protection or defensive abilities and would be flying with Xisuma. A single speed potion was also handed over from Doc to Xisuma without a word, but Xisuma noted the two strength potions in his other hand and chose not to dwell on his choice of brewing and instead accepted the potion greatfully. Once Xisuma had squeezed the boots on over the fuzzy boots he still couldn't take off, the three took off to the other jungle, not quite willing to try and use a portal when the world was growing steadily more unstable.

They eventually reached the edge of the jungle which was just as chaotic as the one they were just at, and Xisuma cringed at his own base's distorted form. Iskall made the speed crystal as close to the border as he could get it and the trio sat in relative an unawkward silence as they observed the jungle closely, looking for the dip in the level of chaos that signified their cue. Meanwhile, the other hermits readied themselves at the border, all ready to put their all into dispelling the solid-looking sphere of birds and hopefully find the one that had caused this whole mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the wait again, I don't actually have a good reason this time. My mind just kinda cracked on me, ya know? Still, I hope this slightly shorter chapter can live up to expectations and please let me know if you see anything that needs fixing. Anyway, thanks for reading!


	22. Chapter 22

Wels had made a promise earlier that he'd sit out of the actual fight, but he had done so on one condition: should his involvement be needed, he'd assist on his honor as a knight. He didn't know exactly what would become of himself once the backup was restored and didn't bother to express his worries to the group since he knew they had more important things to deal with that he believed took priority over his situation. 

He had pitched a small tent since he wanted something to do but his "condition" wouldn't exactly allow him to touch anything that the hermits may need, lest they risk losing it. He sat outside his tent on a glitched out and empty barrel with the full intention of jumping in the moment his friends needed him and watched as they made their final preparations and waited for what was the approximated travel time for Grian, Iskall, and Xisuma to reach the other jungle. 

Wels had taken this time to think about all that had happened, both to him and the others. He couldn't quite understand the details of what was going on, and asked himself questions like, where did those biome entities even come from? Why can't they interact with each other? Why can't they affect mobs? Had they really been with the hermits from the beginning? It was a chilling thought that things of such power had been lurking in the background for so long. And speaking of their connection with the worlds of hermitcraft, if one of these entities has been corrupted along with all of its associated biomes by its own enchantment, then was there a possibility of it happening again? Or worse, to a hermit?

Shaking his head, Wels dispelled the thought from his mind. As of that moment, it didn't matter what might happen later, just what they were going to do to solve this issue right then. The whole thing was so absurd and unheard of. It made him uneasy. Wels watched as Doc announced the end of the agreed upon time limit and leaned forward to fully observe the hermits spring into action. It was impressive really. With all of the newfound powers that ranged from frightening to outright explosive, the coordination between the hermits was really remarkable. Wels supposed that's what came from being so close to so many people. It was natural that they'd get better at reading and responding to one another.

Doc seemed to be enjoying himself as he took out all of the stress that he had built up on the parrots that were starting to scatter. Wels observed from afar and mentally grouped the hermits by how they looked while they cleared out the glitchy birds. Some, like Doc, were enjoying having something to smack around without remorse and Wels assumed that it was either their idea of payback or a sort of coping mechanism. Others were terrified and were more focused on staying out of the more dense glitch clouds than the birds, but they were still making a decent dent in the sheer number of feathery fiends. Finally, were the laser-focused hermits who showed nothing but determination on their face along with the occasional grimace from either a talon scratching them or a particularly painful wave of glitches. Wels was genuinely glad that the hermits were so capable, but he worried for them nonetheless. 

It was such a chaotic and explosive sight and with bated breath, he sat with his eyes glued to the chaos, ignoring the occasional pang he felt in his chest when the glitches around him would reach his heart. All of his attention was drawn to the scene before him, waiting for something to happen that wasn't the sound of broken space or infuriated parrots.

Similar to Wels, Iskall was watching both Grian and Xisuma who were standing almost perfectly still, ready to launch themselves into the air. Xisuma had already shifted into a vex and Grian had his sword in hand. Both looked more serious than Iskall had ever seen them and he hoped he'd never have to see them like that again. If this all worked out, then they'd somehow find a way to prevent anything like this from ever repeating. The three were completely silent, but they all knew better than to talk to try and lighten the mood. It might have been tense, but to break focus could cost them precious time.

Iskall focused back on putting as much energy into the speed crystal as he could, increasing the range to the best of his ability as well as the level. For all he knew, even half a second could mean either success or failure.

All of a sudden, he felt a burst of wind knock into him and he realized that Grian had taken off, Xisuma not far behind. The two soared over the jungle until they were out of Iskall's range and they felt themselves slow down a bit. They could feel the crackle of the air and how it pricked at their nerves. Xisuma remained silent while Grian let out the occasional grunt of discomfort or huff from flapping his wings. They had both seen several clouds of discolored debris disappear suddenly and took that as their cue, not bothering to talk about it or inform Iskall. Their hearts thumped in their ears as they pushed their bodies to their limits. Even though it barely took a handful of seconds for them to reach the XZ coordinates, time seemed to lengthen itself and moving at those breakneck speeds felt like swimming through molasses.

"Here!" Xisuma shouted as he momentarily shifted back to his normal form and made use of his boots so that he'd fall right where he needed to be. As he looked up to make sure Grian was with him, he noticed that the winged builder was still hovering where he had dropped out of the sky.

"What are you doing!?" Xisuma yelled over the growing distance and the sound of glitches closing in around him. Grian looked down for a moment and Xisuma saw conflict in his eyes. What was he waiting for!? Before Xisuma could yell up again, he saw Grian's sword clash with something, but Xisuma couldn't tell what it was. Whatever Grian was fighting in the air had no discernable figure and looked like it was rapidly morphing into several things that Xisuma had never seen before, from strange creatures that vaguely resembled animals and mobs to grotesque abominations that Xisuma hoped he'd never see again. It wasn't until he heard that unmistakable voice that he knew what kept his friend from accompanying him to the admin room.

_THEY TOOK THE JUNGLE'S VESSEL AWAY, SO THE JUNGLE WILL TAKE A DIFFERENT BIRD AS A VESSEL INSTEAD._

He both heard the voice physically and in his head. The one he heard with his ears was just jumbled static that barely resembled a voice while the voice he could feel resonate in his core was actually discernable, but still somehow carried the same corrupted undertone. Xisuma felt panic overcome him as Grian locked eyes with him for a split second, eyes wild and frantic. Grian yelled at Xisuma from the sky, as loud as his voice would let him so that the admin was sure to hear over the distance and the glitchy chaos.

"HURRY!" And Xisuma did just that. Noting that the distance wouldn't be enough to seriously hurt him, Xisuma yanked off his boots and went plummeting to the jungle floor. As soon as he reached the bottom, he started digging straight down where he knew the mini world border was shallowly buried in the ground. He blocked out everything and even downed the speed potion to grant him even a tiny burst of speed. As he dug, he felt his hands start to move quicker than normal and his body suddenly felt more strong and able. Haste and strength. He mentally thanked Iskall for the impressive use of his ability as he was digging through the last bit of dirt and dropped right through the world border thanks to his pre-determined rules of entry. 

He could feel the moment he entered completely into the room as the noise from outside died out instantly and was replaced with eerie silence. Even his strange outfit that he'd worn for what seemed like forever had reverted back to his normal armor which was a small victory that he didn't bother to celebrate. Xisuma didn't take the time to observe the glint of the world border or bask in the stillness of the place and instead dashed over to the standalone console and tacked away at the keyboard as fast as he could.

Grian, meanwhile, had heard what that thing had said and was desperately fighting for his life. He made sure to make use of his well-practiced flying skills as well as put them to the test as he dodged and weaved through trees and vines and clouds of corruption that he barely noticed were quickly growing in size and density. Based on the very strange and frankly disturbing form of the thing that was attacking him, he was able to figure out that the hermits in the other jungle had managed to destroy the bird that this thing had been possessing. Knowing how resilient that freaky bird was, he presumed that it probably had gotten straight up disintegrated. 

Interestingly enough, he was right in that assumption. Back with the larger group of hermits, Mumbo had been the one to call down a lightning strike on a large clump of birds when the glitches around the jungle had suddenly halved in intensity in direct correlation to the alleged vaporizing of the birds. He was shocked by the sudden drop in volume as the hermits ceased the fighting and realized that the birds had stopped trying to flock together or assault the hermits.

"Everyone out!" Doc immediately called in response to the lull in chaos while Scar waved the hermits back to the mesa. Several hermits who exited looked to be in a similar state as Wels who had been inching closer to the border while they fought. A decent amount of seconds passed before the previously subdued glitches gradually began to roar to life again, sending a somehow even louder crackle through the air. The parrots, however, didn't look to be gathering under a command like before, but rather they acted like how any creature would if they were caught in a jungle of chaos. It was insane and somewhat sad to look at. The place looked barely like a jungle anymore and the outline of trees were barely discernable. At that moment, looking at the sorry state of the place several hermits called home, they all had the same thought: what happened to Xisuma and Grian?

Which brings the story back to where it was before: following Grian who was using every maneuver he could think of to gain the upper hand. But when he realized that his vision was beginning to be clouded by thick static, he was forced to fly upwards and over the tall trees. He knew that he was probably being smoked out by that entity, but if he were to stay, he would've likely been quickly drowned in corruption. It was a risk he was both willing and required to take. His job was to buy Xisuma time and he could only do that if he was still alive and at least relatively well. He desperately wanted his home back. When he broke through the canopy, he flew smoothly for maybe two seconds before he heard that horrid yet recognizable screech from directly behind him and his gut plummeted. Just as his head turned to see the disgusting true form of the thing that had been tormenting them, hurtling toward him at a terrifying speed, his vision went dark.

And all that he heard was silence.

Complete

and utter

silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I've apologized at least once every time I realease a chapter, but I'mma keep doing it anyway. I'm sorry for the shorter chapter, but I'm pretty sure I can't keep doing chapters that are nearly 4 K words long. It's a bit exhausting. Don't get me wrong though, I still love writing these, I just have limits.


	23. Chapter 23

Iskall was sitting outside the jungle that his friends had disappeared into, having just been able to make a couple haste and strength crystals grow near where he assumed Xisuma and Grian to be. It had been difficult, but he’d managed it. Even so, he’d felt that horrid voice scream at the two, as well as heard the barely recognizable static that accompanied it. The implications frightened him, but he chose to keep his wits about him. Besides, what really worried him was almost directly after a blood curdling screech echoed through the area, the dense glitches had started to encroach on the surrounding biomes much faster than it already had been.

Thankfully, Iskall hadn’t taken off Wels’s borrowed elytra and he fired a rocket to escape the wall of brokenness that was moving much faster than he originally thought. As much as he hated to leave Grian and Xisuma behind, he had to help the others to the best of his ability.

Unfortunately though, the sudden burst of speed from the spread of corruption was affecting both jungles and the hermits near the other jungle experienced the frightening and very threatening barrier that started to speed toward them. Obviously, they ran, but after what they’d all went through, it was inevitable that those who had started glitching themselves would lag behind. Wels was obviously among this crowd, and he’d later refer to this moment as one of the most terrifying thighs he’d ever experienced. He’d describe it like running from something in a nightmare in which the thing chasing you could move chillingly fast but your own body would not allow you to match the speed that was needed to escape the danger.

The pangs of weakness that would plague him would coincide with the waves of glitches that distorted his heart, and he felt bad that the five or so hermits who were running with him had to experience this. Some of the glitchy hermits were managing elytra, but the handful that didn’t have their elytra were running for their lives, some dragging others by their hands in an attempt to force them quicker along.

Wels made the mistake of checking behind him, wondering if there were any hermits he could drag forward with him, only to be hit with the realization that he was a mere two meters away from the wave of corruption. In that moment, he couldn’t stop the momentary panic that clouded his mind and as his eyes shot open in fear, the terrible condition he’d been afflicted with suddenly spiked in intensity and his body was wracked with and electrifying pain. He bit his tongue so that he wouldn’t yell and distract the others from getting away, but even if he tried to vocalize the pain, the glitching would have choked him for that split second and silenced him.

Even worse, the spike in severity had paralyzed him for the one precious second that the wall needed to catch up and he was quickly and silently consumed by the glitches, unknown to the hermits who were sprinting in front of him. His vision suddenly dissipated into a quiet and sightless dark.

Iskall was flying as fast as his elytra would allow him. He’d already flown over the remaining bits of mesa and was now searching the ocean. He had a great trust in his eyesight, but he couldn’t spot any of his friends. He tried his absolute hardest not to panic, but it was getting exponentially more difficult. Had they already been consumed? Had they seriously failed? Why was the corruption spreading so fast?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and listened closely for the sound of anything other than static. What was going on?

Iskall had to fight his thoughts to stay focused and wasn’t having much success. He was worried beyond belief, but why wouldn’t he be? From the look he’d seen on Wels’s face when he was glitching earlier, he had to assume that being consumed by something like that would be outright traumatizing. It was practically a living nightmare just having such a thing chasing you from a fair distance.

Iskall turned his head to see the ocean of unrecognizable world hurtle towards him. He kept a good distance from it, but he’d also flown quite a ways away. Enough that he bore witness to how the whole thing looked like some sort of creature that was consuming their beloved home. He watched from a distance as it destroyed their cowmmercial district, every block they’d placed to transform the island was distorted to the point where the place looked completely nightmarish and foreign.

Just as he watched the last bit of land break and distort, something came over him. His vision went dark, though he knew that his eyes hadn’t closed. He suddenly couldn’t feel the pull of gravity anymore, nor could he feel his mask that he’d worn for what felt like forever. The static had ceased and was replaced by an eerie silence. Iskall could still feel his body, thankfully, but something was different from how he’d felt when he was trapped in his mind by that Jungle creature. Different and familiar.

He moved his arms and ran his fingers through his hair.

And a big smile plastered itself on his face.

Xisuma had done it.

The feeling he felt in that moment was like floating in zero-gravity, but it was a welcome and familiar feeling. He’d felt it whenever he switched to a separate world or when he traveled dimensions. He could feel the fabric of his normal shirt and the denim jeans that were surprisingly breathable, he felt the thicker material of his vest and the worn but still tight shoes that he hadn’t had on since his clothing change.

Xisuma had logged him out. 

Iskall couldn’t help but laugh and pump his fists in the air in triumphant glee.

“Yes! Yes yes yes! He did it!” His voice echoed through the expanse, even though whatever it echoed against wasn’t visible to Iskall himself. He quickly righted himself and cleared his throat. 

“Open panel.” Unlike admin panels, the panels that players like Iskall used were controlled by his voice, were much bigger, and only accessible when he wasn’t physically in a world. The dark expanse in front of him lit up and presented him with a list of worlds that he would frequently travel to. He noticed that in the space normally inhabited by the seventh world of hermitcraft, there was instead a space labelled “Safe”. Iskall, hoping that this was the quick work of his admin friend, spoke again.

“Travel to the world ‘Safe’.” And just as he finished speaking, the panel flickered away and he could feel gravity start to pull on him again. A blinding light assaulted his retina and he squinted for a moment before blinking away the water in his eyes. The sight he was presented with was a comforting one to say the least. 

All of the hermits, save for a couple that were still arriving, were all idling around a village that had spawned. Iskall noted that Xisuma, who was checking to make sure everyone was okay, had brought them to a temporary superflat world where the only thing that could be seen for miles was the sun and the village they were in.

“Iskall!” That name, his name, he hadn’t heard it in much too long, so when Stress and Mumbo shouted it along with Grian sprinting up to him, the warm feeling in his chest was almost overwhelming.

“Iskall buddy, you made it!” Xisuma called from his position next to Doc who was sitting on a farming plot and looking significantly more relaxed while Grian leaped up to tackle Iskall with a surprising amount of force. Stress looked practically over the moon and Mumbo looked incredibly relieved, but tired. To Iskall’s even greater delight, Mumbo was back in his suit, Xisuma back in his armor, Stress looked much more comfortable in casual clothing, and even Etho was back in his usual, much more climate friendly attire while Grian somehow still wore that bafflingly thick red sweater of his. Iskall would never understand how he wore that sweater in the jungle, but perhaps that’s why he was moving to the mountains. Scar didn’t look much different in his purple wizard cloak, though he had lost his pants again. 

They all looked so much more relaxed, though once Iskall could get a better look at everyone, he realized just how tired everyone looked. 

“Who are we still waiting for?” Iskall asked, hoping that the number of absentees would be small.

“Just three people. Ren, False and Wels.” Just as Xisuma said that, Iskall’s now present communicator buzzed in his pocket, while a few others pinged. They didn’t have to look at the communicator to see what the message was since right next to where Iskall was struggling to get Grian off of him, False materialized and blinked in a similar manner to how Iskall had when he’d arrived.

“...Guys? Did we do it?” False asked once she saw the group of hermits around her.

“Falsey! You made it!” Keralis exclaimed while he peeked out from behind a house and several other hermits ran up to meet her.

“Hey False! Yeah, we did it. We’re still waiting for Ren and Wels but they should be here soon.” Grian said from his position still clinging to Iskall, an even bigger smile stretching itself across his face.

“Grian, I think you can get off Iskall now.” Mumbo chuckled from the sidelines. It was somehow strange hearing their names again, but felt heartwarmingly welcome nonetheless. Grian, however, refused to leave completely but settled for just hugging onto Iskall’s arm. Mumbo sighed.

“You did that to the rest of us, so why didn’t you tackle False?” he asked, only a little genuinely curious and more just trying to help out Iskall who looked like he wanted to meet with other hermits. Grian put on an exaggerated annoyed face to glare at Mumbo.

“Last time I did that, she hit me.”

“Hey, that was an accident!”

“It still hurt!”

“Well I promise I won’t do it if you warn me, okay?” False offered, extending a hand. She was genuinely worried about their safety when they’d gone off to the admin room and decided she needed a bit of reassurance in the form of one of Grian’s tackle hugs. Grian’s exaggerated glare melted to a smirk before he leaped forward to smother False in a hug. She was strong so she didn’t stagger back, but she could still tell that Grian put a little extra force in the tackle. Knowing him, it was to get back for that one time she threw him when he hugged her in a similar manner. He was petty like that.

She closed her eyes and embraced him back, but heard another voice that was approaching. She recognized it as Stress.

“Okay, I already hugged the others like a million times, but I’ve got to join in! Group hug!” Just as she finished speaking, False felt another pair of gentle arms wrap around her. Stress gave the best hugs. One by one, several other hermits joined the hug in quick succession, save for the few who didn't like the physical contact and preferred to watch from the outside and bask in the reunion from the sidelines. Such a large group hug might have been awkward under any other circumstance if all of the participating hermits didn’t feel like they needed it. It was comforting.

They were so preoccupied with the hug that they didn’t even notice their communicators light up with notifications and were surprised to hear Ren’s voice.

“Guys!” He shouted excitedly. He quickly scanned the crowd who had released the massive group hug and looked at him with hopeful eyes, and Ren made a quick count of everyone there. He noticed Wels’s absence, but was distracted by Grian somehow weaving through the dense crowd and tackling him in another hug, like he’d evidently done with every other hermit as they’d arrived.

“Ren! You made it!” Said hermit did actually stumble backwards since he wasn’t at all prepared, but he welcomed the embrace nonetheless. 

“You’re all okay! My dudes! Did we seriously do it!?” He asked the beaming crowd who responded with various noises of affirmation and nods while Grian clung to Ren for the foreseeable future, or at least until Wels made it and Grian would cling to him as long as he decided that hugging armor wasn’t uncomfortable. But until the night arrived, Grian would stick to his neighbor like glue.

“Okay okay, False, Ren, Iskall, can you make your way to that cobblestone house when you’re ready? I want to make sure you guys are alright from that whole fiasco.” Xisuma piped up from the edge of the crowd and made his way to the aforementioned house to wait for the three inside. They were able to make their way in once they greeted the other hermits. Grian, Scar, and Mumbo followed them, but Mumbo and Scar stayed in the doorway since the house was getting crowded. 

“Alright, so first off is anyone feeling lightheaded or queasy or just unwell in general?” Xisuma started while he brought up his finally accessible admin panel. All three shook their heads and Xisuma tacked away at a separate notepad he brought up that could be seen on the reverse side of the panel.

“Alright, can you three take a couple deep breaths and make sure it feels okay?” after they did so with perfect ease, Xisuma kept tacking away. Suddenly, without any explanation, he spoke up and signaled Grian to back up from Ren.

“Alright. Don’t move in three... two...” when Xisuma reached the end of the abrupt countdown, the word “one” was replaced with the sound of a very loud and very close explosion, though no explosion was actually felt. Even so, all three hermits that Xisuma had brought in the room jumped and visibly tensed at the udden noise. The stretch of silence after the noise went on for several seconds as the three hermits simply stared at Xisuma while he stared back at their shell shocked faces. Once those seconds of silence went by with nothing happening, Xisuma pressed a few more keys before closing the admin panel and smiled at the hermits with guilty eyes.

“Sorry about that. I wasn’t sure how best to test it, but I figured that noise would work. You can get me back later, but you guys are glitch free.” Xisuma sounded tired as he spoke to the hermits, but his tone was light with the reassurance that his friends didn’t corrupt and glitch like he’d seen his home do.

The three hermits that Xisuma had scared with the loud noise sighed and relaxed, opting to socialize with the other hermits while they waited for Wels. Grian followed closely behind, and many of the jungle hermits were doing similar things, though not to the same, clingy degree. Cub and Scar were practically tied at the hip while many other hermits would switch rapidly between groups in an effort to talk with everyone. Ren wasn’t against the hugs and didn’t push the tenacious Grian away since the image of the soulless hermits would sometimes still flash in his mind, and seeing him be so energetic brought Ren comfort. Mumbo was having fun being in and talking with many groups and made it a point to be near the hermits he hadn’t been able to see in a while. Etho and Xisuma traveled together and would watch from the sidelines, though they would join a conversation if they had something to say. Iskall and Stress were making jokes with everyone in an attempt to keep laughter going to combat the inherent silence of a superflat world, as well as the group’s unanimous exhaustion.

Of course, as the minutes went by, they all started to run out of steam. They were tired to the point of collapsing and were growing more anxious about Wels’s prolonged absence. Xisuma was especially worried. He had logged everyone out one by one, an unfortunate consequence of the instability of the world, but he was worried about Wels. He was taking quite a while to come back and his previous, very unstable status was worrying. Xisuma’s concern was unfortunately contagious as even the more energetic hermits began to lose their pep. May hermits, opting to rest instead of worry, started to nod off slumped against various walls, farming plots, and beds. Others were talking quietly in exhausted and spacey tones about anything that came to mind.

“What was it like, if you don’t mind me asking?” Tango inquired to Mumbo and Stress. They thought for a moment before Mumbo spoke up.

“Not very pleasant. Personally, I wasn’t trapped for as long as Grian and Scar were, but I did get to experience a lot of what they went through. It was… suffocating.” Stress nodded in agreement before giving her two cents.

“Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it. Before we were controlled by that thing, it was like we were and weren’t ourselves. If that makes sense. We didn’t see each other's faces, we couldn’t say our names, the clothes were so uncomfortable,” Mumbo interjected with an agreement.

“Yeah! And they hardly fit us at all! I mean I know I’m the redstone guy, but I want to keep my modesty. It was all too flashy.” Tango smirked at Mumbo’s point and came back with one of his own.

“Yeah, because I would totally describe someone who sold their mustache, hair, and clothes for diamonds as modest. Uh huh, yeah, sure.” Stress stifled a giggle while mumbo visibly deflated and laughed nervously.

“Oh, right. Yeah I guess you do have a point. But you get what I’m saying, right? It was stereotyped almost. Like it was playing dress up with us or something.” When Mumbo said this, Tango cocked his head to the side.

“‘Dress up’? Really?” He asked. Stress nodded.

“Yeah, I mean don’t get me wrong, the outfits looked fine from a fashion standpoint, but they weren’t really something I’d want to wear. Like when you see an outfit that you think looks nice, but you know that you wouldn’t want to wear for whatever reason so you don’t buy it. When we were forced to wear those outfits, and trapped in that tiny area, and had our actions all watched and controlled by that thing, it was like we were being toyed with. Nothing there seemed real, like it was all just some terrible… I dunno… puppet show or something.” Stress finished with a sour look on her face that was mirrored by Mumbo.

“Yeah… like some half-baked parody…” he mumbled. Tango saw the two tense up in discomfort at the bad memory and quickly changed the subject to the game he was thinking of adding to hermitcraft once they got back.

Several similar conversations would pepper the time until they all eventually died out and more hermits had nodded off from exhaustion.

“So… when do you think Wels will get here?” False inquired to nobody in particular when a unanimous silence had fallen over the group.

“...Hopefully soon…” Xisuma mumbled, half asleep and leaning against Etho who sat against the well. More silence followed while even more hermits fell asleep to the sound of a gentle breeze. The sun was on the horizon, but Xisuma was woken up by Etho for a moment to stop the day cycle and the village stayed in an orange glow that was just bright enough so that nothing dangerous would spawn and they would still be able to see if need be. The breeze was cool and the grass warm so that soon enough, almost every hermit had fallen asleep curled up somewhere in the village.

There were two hermits who had stayed awake so far and sat in a comfortable and lazy silence.

“...Hey Cub?”

“Yes?”

“Why do you think Wels is taking so long?” Cub sighed at his drowsy friend who sat slumped against his shoulder, not minding the gold that he was adorned with. His purple wizard hat was discarded on the ground and his green eyes were unfocused and staring into the painted horizon, sometimes his eyelids would fall closed before he forced them open again.

“Maybe he’s taking care of something first. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure we had time to set up the world.” Cub offered, the drowsy atmosphere starting to slow his thoughts.

“Hmm, maybe he got stuck…” Scar’s voice trailed off as he stopped fighting to keep his eyes open and let them drift closed. Cub raised a brow at Scar as he began to drift off.

“Why don’t you sleep? I’m sure you’re tired.”

“Mmm. Don’t wanna.”

“Why not?” Cub asked, even though it looked like Scar was already at least mostly asleep. It took a few seconds before Scar responded.

“... I gotta keep…” his voice trailed off but he finished the sentence a few seconds later.

“...a lookout, for Desire… he can’t be seen… by Jungle…” Cub looked at his technically conscious friend with a concerned look.

“Scar, Jungle won’t bother us. We escaped, remember?” Cub spoke quietly so Scar would hopefully stay drowsy enough that he’d get some sleep.

“...Oh, really? Oh yeah... we did, huh?… That’s good…” Even more time passed before Scar mumbled his conclusion to the conversation.

“Name’s nice… to hear. Wels still needs… to say it… I hope... he made… it… out...” this last sentence was followed by even more silence until Cub heard a tiny snore from Scar who’d finally fallen asleep. Cub smiled at his exhausted friend and made a silent promise to check up on him more once they got back. He let his gaze drift back to the vibrant sky and took a silent breath before mumbling very quietly to himself.

“Yeah… me too.”


	24. Chapter 24

Cub was the only one awake much later. He wasn’t sure how long they’d been waiting since Xisuma had stopped the day cycle, but he knew it had been too long to not be worrisome. In the back of his head, inquiries about how they might deal with the loss of a friend swam about, slowly making their way to the forefront of his thoughts, only to be forced back down by the dwindling faith Cub had that Wels was still alive.

His mind drifted back to their sixth world of hermitcraft, when Wels had gone to sleep and simply never woke up. The hermits had dragged the season on for quite a while before relenting that Wels wouldn’t wake up for the foreseeable future. They had, of course, tried to put it out of their minds, and an actual farewell was out of the question. After all, if they’d said a proper goodbye, then it would imply that the hermits had given up on him ever waking up. As far as the group was concerned, as long as Wels was still breathing, then there was a chance.

But as Cub pondered the reason the hermits still had hope in Wels, he realized that they didn’t even know if he was even breathing right then and had no way of finding out. For all they knew, those glitches could have wiped out his very existence. Cub shivered at the idea of not seeing Wels again. He had been the one to go back and get him, and would forever be happy that he did, but right then, there wasn’t even a way for the hermits to check if Wels was awake, like they’d done before. It felt more hopeless than the last time.

Cub was left alone, completely blocking out any noise that could be heard like the meowing of wild cats or the quiet mumblings of villagers or the snores of his sleeping friends, stewing over the frightening thoughts with nobody there who could pull him out of the grief that was creeping up on him.

Then, in that lonely moment, the universe had finally decided to be kind to him and give him someone that could do just that.

“Cub? Are you…. okay?” The voice was quiet, nearly a whisper, and the only reason that Cub had acknowledged it was because of the gloved hand that had gently rested itself on his shoulder. Cub quickly looked up to the source of the voice to his right and his eyes widened and a smile spread across his features. Looking down at him were a pair of concerned pale blue eyes that were bathed in a warm dusk light that made them look multicolored and full of life. The sun glinted off of familiar sterling colored armor and the unevenly dyed brown and blonde hair that stuck out from under the scratched and dented helmet was a welcome sight.

With barely any hesitation, Cub grabbed the hand on his shoulder and pulled his friend forward into an embrace.

“... I should be asking you that.” Cub said quietly, twisting himself so that he wouldn’t disturb Scar. Wels chuckled nervously.

“Yeah… sorry I took so long. I got pretty messed up back there and had to wait for my whole body to get out of the world, but here I am.” The exhaustion was evident in his voice, but he was obviously glad that he was back in one piece. 

“You’ve gotta stop doing this, man. We were worried sick you know.” Wels pulled away from the embrace and gave Cub a guilty smile.

“You know, I agree. But it’s a lot harder to avoid unexplained and life-threatening phenomena than you’d think.” Wels joked a bit. Cub chuckled and Wels sat near Cub in a place that wasn’t occupied by Scar.

“Did everyone make it okay?” he asked once he’d gotten settled.

“Yeah. No issues other than all the worrying you caused.”

“Good.”

“Xisuma is probably going to want to look you over for glitches, and I think everyone’s gonna freak out when they see that you made it. Grian will probably cling to you all day tomorrow and we still need to get a more permanent solution for the biome entities. I don’t want this to happen again. X was smart to generate a superflat world for us. No biomes, no entities after all. That, and-” Cub’s fatigue-induced rant was cut short by a very small snore from Wels who had fallen asleep sitting straight up. Cub smiled and agreed silently that Wels probably had the right idea and it was about time that he got some rest himself.

Luckily, it didn’t take much effort for him to doze off now that his nerves had been settled. Dreamless sleep had never felt so satisfying.

Which meant that later, as for how much later they’d never know, when Cub was woken up by a shout, he was more irritable than he would’ve preferred.

“...back! He’s back guys! Up up up, get up! Wels is here!” Tango’s shouts were followed by the very rapid and highly irritating clanging of the village bell and Cub jolted awake at the loud noise, followed by Wels's confused and sleepy voice.

“Ah! Wh, wha-” Wels had slumped over as he slept and straightened up when he heard the bell and his name, only for his helmet to close over his face and surprise him even more. What’s more, apparently Grian had gotten his bearings quicker than Wels himself and was already glued to the knight, rambling about how worried they were and how could he leave them to wallow in their anxiety and never to do that again because everyone knows the third time is when things go badly and on and on and on. The other hermits gathered around and were quickly growing more alert as the sleep dissipated from their eyes. Tango was obviously already wide awake and had finally stopped ringing that blaring bell, only to join Grian along with Ren, Stress, and Iskall in barrating the poor knight with words of relief, gratitude, and a teasing scolding for letting them worry.

Wels, struggling to move with Grian clinging to him, was eventually able to move a hand to push his visor up so he could see his friends clearly. After a few overwhelmed blinks, he was finally able to grasp the situation a bit better as well as all of the hermits that had gathered around.

“Guys! Quiet down, he just woke up. And Grian, could you maybe give him some breathing room? He looks about ready to pass out again.” Doc commanded from farther away, but the look of relief that was pasted on everyone’s face had not spared him, and his elation was clear as day.

Grian deflated and let go of Wels, settling to be directly next to him instead. After a look of disapproval from Doc, he scooted further from Wels, looking like a kicked puppy. Wels, who’d finally woken up completely, gave an exasperated and amused sigh after seeing Grian’s expression and threw an arm over his shoulders, causing the red-clad hermit to immediately perk up again. Scar had also woken up, though he still looked drowsy, and was using his hat that he’d picked up from the grass to wave the hermits away to a reasonable distance so that they had some space to actually move. Cub just looked amused by the whole situation.

After everyone had calmed down, Wels began conversing with the others and explained the reason behind his extended absence. He’d been caught by the glitches and his body ended up broken into tiny, glitchy pieces and dispersed across quite a bit of distance. That meant that when Xisuma had logged him out manually, his entire self wouldn’t make it all back immediately. Fortunately though, after some time of waiting around in the space between worlds and trying to ignore how uncomfortable and quite noticeably painful it was to be in multiple pieces, he ended up whole again and logged into the safe world as soon as he was sure he was fine. He knew he couldn’t die if he wasn’t in a world, but he still felt pain and it took time before he felt safe and comfortable enough to travel around. Thankfully, the hermits understood.

“Actually, speaking of other worlds, how are we going to solve the whole… ‘psycho jungle’ situation?” Wels asked when he finished explaining to the hermits.

“I think I may have a solution, but it’ll take me a while. I didn’t know these things even existed, so making sure they’re harmless might prove to be a bit difficult. I don’t suppose anyone’s willing to help out?” Xisuma asked the crowd, and surprisingly, a few hermits raised their hands, though they did so not intending to actually touch the admin panel, especially after what happened with Impulse. They preferred to offer input and ideas while leaving the technical things to Xisuma. 

The hermits all spent the time talking and making jokes to lighten the mood now that most of the trouble had been resolved. And with the extra help, it thankfully only took a few hours for Xisuma to call them all for a meeting to explain what was going on and what he’d altered and discovered.

“Alright. Thank you all for being patient while we worked out a solution. First of all, we discovered something fairly interesting. Turns out that these things really have been with us from the beginning, but I don’t actually know how they came to be. I think it might have been a glitch with entity generation and biome generation, but that’s just speculation. I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be able to find out unless we used time travel to go all the way back to our first world.” as soon as he said this, he noticed several faces in the crowd look like they wanted to say something, but he quickly spoke over them before they could prose a question.

“And yes, I am fully aware that you all can probably conjure up something crazy like that, but we’re not going to do that. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not worth it. We found a solution so I don’t think it matters where they came from right now. If everyone's fine with it, let's save that for another time.” As he spoke, he eyed a few specific hermits who looked mildly disappointed that their curiosity had been shut down.

“Anyway, what matters is that we found out that they’re actual generated entities specific to our server. They have permissions in the code that we’ve changed up now so that they can’t use commands or enchantments. Essentially, they’ll be stuck in whatever animal they’ve chosen as a vessel and can't do much else other than wander around.” When Xisuma finished that last line, he got a look from Jevin and Impulse who’d joined him for those few hours. Xisuma seemed to remember something from those looks and addressed the crowd again.

“Ah, yes, right so in favor of avoiding any hard feelings, especially since it seems like that’s what caused this in the first place, we’ve altered some deeper code as well. This should allow biomes to generate normally, while also letting all those entities interact. Apparently, according to those that they spoke to at least, they were unable to interact with each other, save for a short time before each world was created. If they could interact when the world was made, that would make for some... really wacky biome fusions. Does that sound about right?” He addressed Jevin, who gave him a thumbs-up and he continued speaking.

“That part wasn’t as hard to fix since the code in hermitcraft is abnormal compared to a normal world generation. All we really had to do is take some from a normal world and implement it here. As far as I’m aware though, they shouldn’t be able to talk to all of you anymore though, so that’s one of the drawbacks. Another is that whatever animal they use as a vessel can’t get killed. We couldn’t find a safe way to implement permadeath since they’re so closely tied to the worlds of hermitcraft, so we gave them a simplified version of our respawn mechanic.” The hermits all looked like they weren’t exactly sure what to make of all of what Xisuma had said, but they all agreed that there was one basic question that they all had, and Etho took the liberty of asking.

“Okay, so does that mean that once we load the backup, we’ll be safe?” Xisuma nodded.

“Yes, that should be the case. If there is something that we missed, then I just hope that we can trust those entities to govern themselves and keep us from having to do another reset.” That was the answer they’d wanted. Clear, concise, and most importantly, reassuring.

“So when can we go back?” Mambo asked.

“Well…” Xisuma hesitated. Impulse spoke up, a look of realtve confidence on his face.

“Theoretically? Now. But that also begs the question if one of us should scout it out first.” Xisuma tensed up a bit at the answer.

“Yes well, I think we should be extra cautious. There’s no telling if there was a mistake.” Xisuma said in a wary tone.

“I’ll go.” Scar piped up from the crowd. Cub turned to him, a concerned look on his face.

“Are you sure about that? It could be just as bad as before.”

“I’m sure. I’ve gone this long, so who’s to say I can’t make it a bit farther? Gotta make sure it’s Scar safe!” He smiled as best he could, but the hermits could tell he was nervous. Even so, they gave him their reluctant approval.

They didn’t bother to say goodbye since it might imply that they wouldn’t see each other for a while. Xisuma closed the server and Scar found himself back in the strange space between worlds. He waited for a bit before speaking to the emptiness.

“Open panel.” The familiar player panel flickered to life and the list of worlds was there, waiting for him. In the place of Xisuma’s superflat world was the option to visit the seventh world of hermitcraft, presumably in a decent state compared to how they’d left it. Scar took a deep breath before commanding the panel to take him there. He was given ten minutes to scout the place before Xisuma would restore the superflat world to discuss what he’d seen.

And thankfully, when he could feel the humidity of the jungle envelop him, he felt that they really might have come out of this as the winners. Not quite unscathed, but victorious nonetheless. 

His village and Larry the snail were waiting for him, Grian’s mountain mansion was looming in the distance, and Scar was finally able to use his returned elytra to fly over the forest, mountains, mesa, ocean, all of the surrounding area. It was fantastic. Scar glided over to a particularly tall jungle tree right on the edge of the biome and sat there, overlooking the massive builds belonging to his friends.

His elation was interrupted by a jarringly loud squawk of a parrot. Scar snapped his head around to face the bird and was confronted by the lifeless eyes of a red parrot. Scar could’ve sworn he saw a glare, but decided he’d ignore the hostile aura the bird gave off.

“Hey there, pesky bird.” Silence.

“...Jungle. That’s what you like to be called, right?” The bird fluttered forward and landed on Scar’s knee. Thankfully, no voice echoed through his soul. The bird looked as if it had things to say though.

“You know I can’t hear you, right?” The parrot growled at Scar’s inquiry. Scar simply let out an airy chuckle.

“You can learn to read and write like Prof. Beak. That bird’s a genius. He can talk too, but after all that… went down, I can’t really guarantee he’d be willing to teach you.” More silence.

“I think you can travel around now. To other biomes, I mean. We figured that you’d like that.” He was met with another glare from the parrot, and he felt the talons tighten on his knee, though he knew the bird couldn’t hurt him.

“...We’re not heartless you know. We just want freedom. I know you thought that that’s what you gave us with those ‘gifts’,” Scar put air quotes around “gifts”.

“but you also imprisoned us. There’s a reason we don’t have a leader you know.” The bird chirped a bit and tilted its head to convey confusion. It took Scar a moment before he understood what Jungle was probably curious about.

“Oh, I guess you think X is our leader, huh? Hm, he’s our admin. He has a responsibility that the rest of us don’t, but he’s not our leader. We need to all agree on something if it’s going to get done. We don’t have a leader because we’re good enough friends that we can respect each other’s limits. We give freedom to each other, that’s the point. Otherwise, it just wouldn’t be real friendship.” Scar finished speaking and got no visible response from the bird, so he opted to just keep sitting on his branch and looking out at the builds.

His ten minutes ran out quickly after and Scar was forced out of the world. Though, he was excited to tell the others about what he’d seen.


	25. Chapter 25

The hermits would always pride themselves on being resilient, but if they had a choice of whether or not they would have the chance to demonstrate just how resilient they were, they’d always deny it. After the biome fiasco had finally concluded and Scar had excitedly told them about his one-sided conversation with the previously hostile but still very agitated parrot, the hermits had settled back into the server.

Xisuma had resolved to comb through the code and triple check everything over the next several weeks and the hermits had taken up the responsibility of making sure their admin actually slept. Sometimes they’d even grab him a forgotten meal or do a bit of grinding for him to buy him more downtime. This was because in the back of his mind, Xisuma was still worried that he’d missed something so significant yet well hidden as those entities, but he would try his best to accept that it wasn’t his fault, even if the underlying guilt would nip at him in the dead of night. Keralis was the one who would check up on him most often, right alongside Beef and Etho since they lived closer than many other hermits. Both Keralis and Beef would be the ones to drag him to bed most often, but Etho helped in a different way.

Etho, despite reacting calmly nearly the whole time while they were in danger, could relate to Xisuma’s occasional mood fluctuations when thinking about the whole event. Etho would sit and listen as well as share his own feelings about what had happened, and for those nights when they’d remember the several hours they’d spent under the control of someone else, they’d make a unique warm drink that the two had invented that featured quite a bit of honey and milk, as well as an unnamed tea that Etho had discovered after quite a bit of trial and error with the local flora. They’d sit and sip their drinks, petting any animals that wandered close and talking about things that meant a lot to them; things that only they could talk about.

Scar and Grian had developed a similar routine, but seemingly in the opposite way. Instead of staying in the warm and humid jungle, they would either travel to Scar’s nether project or Grian’s mansion. Scar would spend less time in his village, but that didn’t mean he didn’t like being there. It only meant that the more time he spent there, the more antsy he’d get. He’d take scenic walks around the surrounding biomes and visit Cub quite a bit. He would visit Grian in the mountains when the humidity got to him or his dreams were restless and they’d share some ice-cold fruit juice that they’d collaborated to make from apples, melons, sweetberries, and a very diluted extract of chorus fruit. They had to be careful when making food with that, since when they would taste it, they’d often get teleported to a random place if the extract wasn’t diluted enough.

Grian would fly constantly from place to place, never staying somewhere for too long before zooming off again and took great pleasure in messing with Scar or not doing what he’s told, so long as it didn’t cause any harm. He of course made it a point to greet as many hermits as he could as often as he could, lingering in places that were dry or cold. He’d prank people a bit more and spent some time ranting to Doc while he worked, using the excuse of needing to catch him up on all of the things he’d missed. He enjoyed his late nights with Scar and would stick around if Cub was visiting. Of course, for those infrequent moments when he felt a little too distant or didn’t feel like he was in the present, it didn’t hurt to have one of his many bird masks with him to wear until he felt grounded.

Mumbo had visited Stress quite soon after they’d gotten back, clad in his very strange and unflattering attire given to him by Iskall. She didn’t even have to hear him out in order to know why he’d shown up. She had given him a smile and invited him in, offering some snacks and some beverages stowed away in potion bottles while she went into the depths of her base to retrieve something. Some minutes passed before she came out with a neatly kept and familiar suit, a near exact replica to the bright pink one that she wore, albeit with different proportions. Mumbo accepted the dark suit with gratitude and the two had decided that once Mumbo changed back into something more familiar, they’d go on a walk.

Iskall joined them when he spotted them from his tree and glided down on his elytra. They invited him to come along and he accepted, easily catching the bottle of water Stress tossed his way. All three of them would walk whenever one of them felt the need to do something different, and they spent a little time after or during each walk teaching each other what they knew about building or redstone or whatever else came up. Any passing hermits would occasionally happen across a strange contraption or statue placed in the middle of nowhere with seemingly no purpose other than to demonstrate a function. 

Stress had built a panda statue on the edge of the mesa that only bordered the ocean and the three would occasionally travel there to talk about whatever they felt like they needed to, seeing the cute sculpture as a secluded place they could spill their feelings out to each other and not be judged. Iskall had insisted they name the statue after a few meetings since it was the only thing they had regularly revisited and Stress had been the one to suggest they name it Janet, after which, Iskall and Mumbo jokingly insisted they name it “Janet: Eater of Bad Vibes (of doom)” and they put the title on a dark oak sign in front of the statue. Unbeknownst to them, several other hermits had found the panda and it became a secret that everyone thought everyone else didn’t know about and many would visit the panda at random times of the day to vent or yell or just lay their feelings bare. 

Ren and Cub were two of the more frequent visitors, though they wouldn’t visit at the same time. Ren was closer to it so when he wandered over and saw the name that was posted by it, it made him laugh and he felt nice when he would sit on its back and describe what he saw when his friends were under the control of that entity and the sorry state the server had been in when it was being eaten up by corruption. Of course, after a few weeks, he would be caught by Grian, Scar, and Cub who were flying by and he realized how comforting it was to talk directly to them as well. After their first encounter, Ren had decided to make use of his emotional wisdom and spent as much time as he could talking to the other hermits and having fun with them.

Cub could appreciate a place to vent without restraint, but he made it a point to keep the promise he made to himself and he visited Scar much more often, even if they lived farther apart. He would talk and build with him, but they were close enough that they’d often share many a heartfelt conversation or long moment of comfortable silence. Cub would occasionally bring small gifts with him and Scar would sometimes do the same. It wasn’t always the two of them though, since Cub noticed that Scar would appear more relaxed if they were joined by one of the jungle hermits. Ren even joined their meetings after a while, but he would let them talk alone after he stayed a while since he was conscious of their need for a more serious conversation with each other and wanted to give them space without being intrusive.

Impulse would visit Ren, Cub, and Jevin as well, but instead of deep conversations or heartfelt connections, they would build together and vent while doing so. It never got sad or stressful or even quiet, they’d go on passionate rants with emotion that ranged from grateful to angry to sarcastic and they enjoyed every bit of it. It was a mutual agreement to not get too deep or dower and it was a way for them all to straighten out their own feelings and clear up any lingering confusion. Tango and Zedaph would join them occasionally, though they didn’t have as much to contribute, so instead, they’d joke around until the conversation evolved to something they couldn’t follow and they'd excuse themselves, telling Impulse that they wanted to meet up. It was during those meetups that Impulse would express his guilt for his involvement in corrupting the world and making things worse. The rest of team ZIT would then comfort and assure him that it wasn’t his fault.

False and Wels would also meet up under the pretense of training their swordplay, but False would essentially turn it into a therapy session about thirty minutes into the first meetup. Wels would assure her that he was fine, but when he described his experience, False insisted that he talk to someone. When he told her that he wouldn’t feel comfortable meeting up with someone out of the blue, False insisted that he at least talk to her, even if she didn’t think she could offer much. The knight was grateful nonetheless.

As for the entities, the llama that followed Ren around when he visited cooler biomes was the least troublesome. He generally enjoyed its company and it would warn him of the occasional mob sneaking up on him. The llama wouldn’t follow Ren to his base during the day, but at night, it would head over while the sun wasn’t beating down on them and simply keep him company.

The rabbit that hopped sporadically and constantly around Cub’s pyramid drove him up the wall and Cub would have sworn that he’d never heard a noisier animal. The weirdest thing was when the rabbit would make a motion like it was bowing to him every morning and squeal loudly what Cub could only assume was rabbit for “GOOD MORNING PHAROAH”, though he didn’t bother finding out.

A dolphin would swim lazy circles around Jevin’s base and it took a while before Jevin had enough confidence to touch his frequent visitor. Luckily, when Jevin was able to get along fairly well with the dolphin, he was overjoyed when he was able to hold his shape well enough and dive in with the dolphin, only for it to pull him along and give him very scenic tours of the surrounding aquatic life, sometimes dropping by Impulse’s base and calling to him from his place beside the dolphin.

The very, very aggressive parrot would sometimes be allowed to roam the server if it was calm enough, but most of the time, Prof. Beak and Jellie would keep it leashed until one of the jungle hermits said it was fine to let it go. It would stay away from the other biomes because of what Prof. Beak explained was a fear of punishment. It didn’t shy away from the jungle hermits though and would often try and attract their attention while they were building, only to be purposefully ignored. Jellie and Prof. Beak were compensated for their efforts, of course, much to the annoyance of their former captor.

Scar had already thought about what could have caused these entities to come into existence, but it was like Xisuma had said: finding out for sure would mean utilizing some risky methods. Scar himself thought it wasn’t worth it, and he doubted that anyone would want to push the issue. He was glad it was finally over though. Although in the back of his mind, he still wondered about the upcoming Nether update and the new biomes, worrying that there might still be entities waiting to come to light. Scar shook his head, silently assuring himself that Xisuma would take care of it. Though, perhaps he’d take some extra time in making his foothold in the new Nether, just to be safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, here we are. Overall, this thing has accumulated over 60 k words, which is longer than anything I've ever written, and a huge thanks to everyone who stuck it out with me until the end of my first story. I hope you like this little extra part. If you see anything you think should be remedied, please let me know and I'll get right on it! I'm starting plannng on two other works, one starring Jevin while the other features a small group of hermits, so let's see if I can get that out at a decent time. Thanks again so much for all of you guys's amazing support and I hope you all have a lovely day!


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